1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,400
Speaker 1: Sympathy. The remaining pillars are the four central pillars in

2
00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:08,599
the temple of prosperity. They give it greater strength and stability,

3
00:00:09,199 --> 00:00:13,080
and add both to its beauty and utility. They contribute

4
00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,600
greatly to its attractiveness, for they belong to the highest

5
00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:20,839
moral sphere, and therefore to great beauty and nobility of character.

6
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,160
They indeed make a man great, and place him among

7
00:00:25,199 --> 00:00:28,719
the comparatively few, whose minds are rare and that shine

8
00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:34,200
apart in sparkling purity and bright intelligence. Sympathy should not

9
00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,280
be confounded with that maudlin and superficial sentiment, which, like

10
00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:43,159
a pretty flower without root, presently perishes and leaves behind

11
00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:47,399
neither seed nor fruit. To fall into hysterics about some

12
00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:52,320
suffering abroad is not sympathy. Neither are bursts of violent

13
00:00:52,399 --> 00:00:57,560
indignation against the cruelties and injustices of others, any indication

14
00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,280
of a sympathetic mind. If if one is cruel at home,

15
00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,599
if he badgers his wife, or beats his children, or

16
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,680
abuses his servants, or stabs his neighbors with shafts of

17
00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:15,040
bitter sarcasm, what hypocrisy is his profession of love for

18
00:01:15,159 --> 00:01:18,319
the suffering people. Who are outside the immediate range of

19
00:01:18,359 --> 00:01:23,239
his influence. What shallow sentiment informs his bursts of indignation

20
00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,719
against the injustice and hard heartedness in the world around him?

21
00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:33,560
Says Emerson, of such, go love, thy infant love, thy

22
00:01:33,599 --> 00:01:37,920
wood chopper, be good natured and modest, have that grace,

23
00:01:38,599 --> 00:01:43,480
and never varnish your hard, uncharitable ambition with this incredible tenderness.

24
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,159
For black folk a thousand miles off, thy love afar

25
00:01:47,519 --> 00:01:50,879
is spite at home. The test of a man is

26
00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:55,319
in his immediate acts, not in ultra sentiments. And if

27
00:01:55,359 --> 00:01:59,799
those acts are consistently informed with selfishness and bitterness, if

28
00:01:59,799 --> 00:02:02,920
those at home hear his steps with dread and feel

29
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,560
a joyful relief on his departure, how empty are his

30
00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:11,439
expressions of sympathy for the suffering or downtrodden. How futile

31
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,599
his membership of a philanthropic society. Though the well of

32
00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,439
sympathy may feed the spring of tears, that spring more

33
00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,840
often draws its supply from the dark pool of selfishness,

34
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,319
For when selfishness is thwarted, it spends itself in tears.

35
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:33,120
Sympathy is a deep, silent, inexpressible tenderness which is shown

36
00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:38,080
in a consistently self forgetful, gentle character. Sympathetic people are

37
00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:45,240
not gushing and spasmodic, but are permanently self restrained, firm, quiet, unassuming,

38
00:02:45,319 --> 00:02:50,159
and gracious. Their undisturbed demure where the suffering of others

39
00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,719
is concerned, is frequently mistaken for indifference by shallow minds,

40
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,680
but the sympathetic and discerning eye recognizes in their quiet

41
00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,240
strength and their swiftness to aid while others are weeping

42
00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:09,080
and wringing their hands the deepest, soundest sympathy. Lack of

43
00:03:09,159 --> 00:03:14,719
sympathy is shown in cynicism, ill natured sarcasm, bitter ridicule,

44
00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:20,039
taunting in mockery, and anger in condemnation, as well as

45
00:03:20,039 --> 00:03:23,479
in that morbid in faulse sentiment, which is a theoretical

46
00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:28,680
and assumes sympathy, having no basis in practice. Lack of

47
00:03:28,719 --> 00:03:34,960
sympathy arises in egotism. Sympathy arises in love. Egotism is

48
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,759
involved in ignorance. Love is allied to knowledge. It is

49
00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,199
common with men to imagine themselves as separate from their fellows,

50
00:03:43,759 --> 00:03:47,479
with separate aims and interests, and to regard themselves as

51
00:03:47,599 --> 00:03:52,159
right and others wrong in their respective ways. Sympathy lifts

52
00:03:52,199 --> 00:03:55,520
a man above this separate and self centered life and

53
00:03:55,719 --> 00:03:58,039
enables him to live in the hearts of his fellows

54
00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,000
and to think and feel with them. He puts himself

55
00:04:02,039 --> 00:04:05,800
in their place and becomes, for the time being as

56
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:11,479
they are, as witmen. The hospital hero expresses it, I

57
00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,479
do not ask the wounded person. It is a kind

58
00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:19,120
of impertinence to question a suffering creature. Suffering calls for

59
00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,920
aid and tenderness, not for curiosity, And the sympathetic man

60
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,959
or woman feels the suffering and ministers to its alleviation.

61
00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,040
Nor can sympathy boast, And wherever self praise enters in,

62
00:04:33,519 --> 00:04:37,519
sympathy passes out. If one speaks of his many deeds

63
00:04:37,519 --> 00:04:40,560
of kindness and complains of the ill treatment he has

64
00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:44,959
received in return, he has not done kindly deeds, but

65
00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,480
has yet to reach that self forgetful modesty, which is

66
00:04:48,519 --> 00:04:53,560
the sweetness of sympathy. Sympathy, in its real and profound sense,

67
00:04:54,319 --> 00:04:58,839
is oneness with others in their strivings and sufferings, so

68
00:04:58,879 --> 00:05:01,279
that the man of sympathy he is a composite being.

69
00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,560
He is, as it were, a number of men, and

70
00:05:05,639 --> 00:05:08,199
he views a thing from a number of different sides,

71
00:05:08,639 --> 00:05:11,519
and not from one side only, and that his own

72
00:05:11,519 --> 00:05:16,160
particular side. He sees with other men's eyes, hears with

73
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,680
their ears, thinks with their minds, and feels with their hearts.

74
00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,560
He is thus able to understand men who are vastly

75
00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,240
different from himself. The meaning of their lives is revealed

76
00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,040
to him, and he is united to them in the

77
00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:36,319
spirit of good will, said Balzac. The poor fascinate me.

78
00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,879
Their hunger is my hunger. I am with them in

79
00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:44,519
their homes their privations, I suffer, I feel the beggar's

80
00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,959
rags upon my back. I for the time become the

81
00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,079
poor and despised man. It reminds us of the saying

82
00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,399
of one greater than Balzac, that a deed done for

83
00:05:55,439 --> 00:05:59,160
a suffering little one was done for him. And so

84
00:05:59,319 --> 00:06:02,839
it is. Sympathy leads us to the hearts of all men,

85
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,240
so that we become spiritually united to them. And when

86
00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,319
they suffer, we feel the pain. When they are glad,

87
00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,319
we rejoice with them. When they are despised and persecuted,

88
00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,399
We spiritually descend with them into the depths and take

89
00:06:18,439 --> 00:06:23,000
into our hearts their humiliation and distress. And he who

90
00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,959
has this binding, uniting spirit of sympathy can never be

91
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:31,600
cynical and condemnatory, can never pass thoughtless and cruel judgments

92
00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,000
upon his fellows, because in his tenderness of heart he

93
00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,120
is ever with them in their pain. But to have

94
00:06:39,199 --> 00:06:42,600
reached this ripened sympathy, it must be that one has

95
00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:47,480
loved much, suffered much, and sounded the dark depths of sorrow.

96
00:06:48,399 --> 00:06:53,279
It springs from acquaintance with the profoundest experiences, so that

97
00:06:53,319 --> 00:06:58,000
a man has had conceit thoughtlessness and selfishness burnt out

98
00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:02,120
of his heart. No man can have true sympathy who

99
00:07:02,199 --> 00:07:05,800
has not been, in some measure at least a man

100
00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:10,120
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But the sorrow and

101
00:07:10,199 --> 00:07:13,639
grief must have passed, must have ripened into a fixed

102
00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:18,000
kindness and habitual calm. To have suffered so much in

103
00:07:18,079 --> 00:07:21,879
a certain direction that suffering is finished and only its

104
00:07:21,959 --> 00:07:28,040
particular wisdom remains enables one wherever that suffering presents itself,

105
00:07:28,639 --> 00:07:32,199
to understand and deal with it by pure sympathy. And

106
00:07:32,279 --> 00:07:35,839
when one has been perfected by suffering in many directions,

107
00:07:36,519 --> 00:07:39,439
he becomes a center of rest and healing for the

108
00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:43,279
sorrowing and broken hearted who are afflicted with the afflictions

109
00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,920
which he has experienced and conquered. As a mother feels

110
00:07:47,959 --> 00:07:51,199
the anguish of her suffering child, so the man of

111
00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:55,199
sympathy feels the anguish of suffering men. Such is the

112
00:07:55,279 --> 00:07:59,439
highest and holiest sympathy. But a sympathy much less perfect,

113
00:07:59,519 --> 00:08:02,439
is a great power for good in human life, and

114
00:08:02,519 --> 00:08:05,360
a measure of it everywhere and every day is needed.

115
00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,000
While rejoicing in the fact that in every walk of

116
00:08:09,079 --> 00:08:15,759
life there are truly sympathetic people, one also perceives that harshness, resentment,

117
00:08:16,199 --> 00:08:20,759
and cruelty that are all too common. These hard qualities

118
00:08:20,759 --> 00:08:23,879
bring their own sufferings, and there are those who fail

119
00:08:23,879 --> 00:08:28,079
in their business or particular work entirely because of the

120
00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:32,960
harshness of their disposition. A man who is fiery and resentful,

121
00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,000
or who is hard, cold and calculating, with the springs

122
00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,279
of sympathy dried up within him, even though he be

123
00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:45,279
otherwise an able man, will in the end scarcely avoid

124
00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,720
disaster in his affairs. His heated folly in the one case,

125
00:08:50,279 --> 00:08:54,000
or cold cruelty in the other, will gradually isolate him

126
00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,360
from his fellows and from those who are immediately related

127
00:08:57,399 --> 00:09:01,519
to him. In his particular avocation, so that the elements

128
00:09:01,519 --> 00:09:05,320
of prosperity will be eliminated from his life, leaving him

129
00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:10,080
with a lonely failure and perhaps a hopeless despair. Even

130
00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:15,360
in ordinary business transactions, sympathy is an important factor, for

131
00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:17,879
people will always be attracted to those who are of

132
00:09:17,919 --> 00:09:21,519
a kindly and genial nature, preferring to deal with them

133
00:09:22,159 --> 00:09:25,519
rather than with those who are hard and forbidding. In

134
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:29,759
all spheres where direct personal contact plays an important part,

135
00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,200
the sympathetic man with average ability will always take precedence

136
00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,519
of the man of greater ability, but who is unsympathetic.

137
00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:42,080
If a man be a minister of clergymen, a cruel

138
00:09:42,159 --> 00:09:46,120
laugh or an unkind sentence from him will seriously injure

139
00:09:46,159 --> 00:09:51,919
his reputation and influence, but particularly his influence, for even

140
00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:56,480
they who admire his good qualities will, through his unkindness,

141
00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,000
unconsciously have a lower regard for him in their personal lisaths.

142
00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,200
If a business man professes religion, people will expect to

143
00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:09,000
see the good influence of that religion on his business transactions.

144
00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:12,679
To profess to be a worshiper of the gentle Jesus

145
00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,559
on Sunday and all the rest of the week, be

146
00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,720
a hard grasping worshiper of Mammon, will injure his trade

147
00:10:20,159 --> 00:10:25,080
and detract considerably from his prosperity. Sympathy is a universal

148
00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:31,240
spiritual language which all, even the animals, instinctively understand and appreciate,

149
00:10:32,039 --> 00:10:35,519
For all beings and creatures are subject to suffering, and

150
00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,399
this sameness of painful experience leads to that unity of

151
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:44,559
feeling which we call sympathy. Selfishness impels men to protect

152
00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:48,720
themselves at the expense of others, but sympathy impels them

153
00:10:48,759 --> 00:10:52,879
to protect others by the sacrifice of self. And in

154
00:10:52,919 --> 00:10:57,039
this sacrifice of self there is no real and ultimate loss.

155
00:10:57,759 --> 00:11:00,879
For while the pleasure of selfishness are small and few,

156
00:11:01,639 --> 00:11:05,879
the blessings of sympathy are great and manifold. It can

157
00:11:05,919 --> 00:11:09,799
be asked, how can a business man whose object is

158
00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:14,960
to develop his own trade practice self sacrifice? Every man

159
00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,559
can practice self sacrifice just where he is, and in

160
00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,279
the measure that he is capable of understanding it. If

161
00:11:22,279 --> 00:11:25,960
one contends that he cannot practice a virtue, for were

162
00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,000
his circumstances different, he would still have the same excuse.

163
00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:35,759
Diligence in business is not incompatible with self sacrifice for

164
00:11:35,879 --> 00:11:41,000
devotion to duty, even though that duty betrayed, is not selfishness,

165
00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:46,200
but may be an unselfish devotion. I knew a businessman who,

166
00:11:46,639 --> 00:11:48,720
when a competitor who had tried to cut him out

167
00:11:48,759 --> 00:11:52,840
of business, cut himself out and failed, set that same

168
00:11:52,879 --> 00:11:57,039
competitor up in business again. Truly a beautiful act of

169
00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,639
self sacrifice, and the man that did it is today

170
00:12:01,159 --> 00:12:04,039
one of the most successful and prosperous of business men.

171
00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,639
The most prosperous commercial traveler I have ever known was

172
00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:13,519
overflowing with exuberant kindness and geniality. He was as innocent

173
00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,799
of all tricks of trade as a newborn infant, but

174
00:12:16,919 --> 00:12:21,440
his great heart and manly uprightness won for him fast friends.

175
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,799
Wherever he went, men were glad to see him come

176
00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,519
into their office or shop or mill, and not alone

177
00:12:28,519 --> 00:12:31,720
for the good, embracing influence he brought with him, but

178
00:12:31,879 --> 00:12:36,320
also because his business was sound and trustworthy. This man

179
00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:40,759
was successful through sheer sympathy, but sympathy so pure and

180
00:12:40,799 --> 00:12:44,720
free from policy that he himself would probably have denied

181
00:12:44,759 --> 00:12:48,879
that his success could be attributed to it. Sympathy can

182
00:12:48,919 --> 00:12:53,399
never hinder success. It is selfishness that blights and destroys.

183
00:12:54,399 --> 00:12:59,799
As good will increases, man's prosperity will increase. All interests

184
00:12:59,799 --> 00:13:04,000
are mutual and stand or fall together. And as sympathy

185
00:13:04,039 --> 00:13:09,320
expands the heart, it extends the circle of influence, making blessings,

186
00:13:09,759 --> 00:13:15,159
both spiritual and material, to more greatly abound. Fourfold are

187
00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,000
the qualities which make up the great virtue of sympathy,

188
00:13:18,519 --> 00:13:30,440
namely one kindness, two generosity, three gentleness, four insight. Kindness,

189
00:13:30,799 --> 00:13:34,320
when fully developed, is not a passing impulse, but a

190
00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:39,600
permanent quality. An intermittent and unreliable impulse is not kindness,

191
00:13:40,159 --> 00:13:43,000
though it often goes under that name. There is no

192
00:13:43,159 --> 00:13:46,679
kindness in praise if it be followed by abuse. The

193
00:13:46,759 --> 00:13:50,159
love which seems to prompt the spontaneous kiss will be

194
00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:55,000
of little account if it be associated with a spontaneous spite.

195
00:13:55,159 --> 00:13:58,559
The gift, which seems so gracious will lose its value,

196
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:03,159
should the giver after wish its value in return. To

197
00:14:03,279 --> 00:14:06,159
have one's feelings aroused, to do a kind action toward

198
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:11,080
another by some external stimulus, pleasing to oneself, and shortly

199
00:14:11,159 --> 00:14:14,679
afterwards to be swayed to the other extreme towards the

200
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:19,399
same person by an external event unpleasing to oneself should

201
00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,799
be regarded as weakness of character. It is also a

202
00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:27,639
selfish condition to be thinking of oneself only. A true

203
00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,840
kindness is unchangeable and needs no external stimulus to force

204
00:14:31,879 --> 00:14:35,200
it into action. It is a well from which thirsty

205
00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:40,159
souls can always drink, and it never runs dry. Kindness,

206
00:14:40,559 --> 00:14:44,000
when it is a strong virtue, is bestowed not only

207
00:14:44,039 --> 00:14:47,240
on those who please us, but also upon those whose

208
00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:50,919
actions go contrary to our wish and will, and is

209
00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:55,039
a constant and never varying glow of genial warmth. There

210
00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:58,639
are some actions of which men repent, such are all

211
00:14:58,799 --> 00:15:02,919
unkind actions. There are other actions of which men do

212
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,600
not repent, and such are all kind actions. The day

213
00:15:07,679 --> 00:15:10,080
comes when men are sorry for the cruel things they

214
00:15:10,159 --> 00:15:13,399
said and did, but the day of gladness is always

215
00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,879
with them for the kindly things they have said and done.

216
00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,279
Unkindness mars a man's character, It mars his face as

217
00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,080
time goes on, and it marks that perfection of success

218
00:15:25,159 --> 00:15:30,440
which he would otherwise reach. Kindness beautifies the character, It

219
00:15:30,559 --> 00:15:33,919
beautifies the face with the growth of years, and it

220
00:15:34,039 --> 00:15:37,360
enables a man to reach that perfection of success to

221
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:42,240
which his intellectual abilities entitle him. A man's prosperity is

222
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:47,679
mellowed and enriched by the kindness of his disposition. Generosity

223
00:15:47,799 --> 00:15:51,480
goes with a larger hearted kindness. If kindness be the

224
00:15:51,559 --> 00:15:58,080
gentle sister, generosity is the strong brother. A free, open handed,

225
00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:04,320
and magnanimous character is always attractive and influential. Stinginess and

226
00:16:04,399 --> 00:16:09,120
meanness always repel. They are dark, cramped, narrow and cold.

227
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:15,200
Kindness and generosity always attract. They are sunny, genial, open

228
00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:19,679
and warm. That which repels makes for isolation and failure.

229
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:25,639
That which attracts makes for union and success. Giving is

230
00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:29,000
as important a duty as getting, and he who gets

231
00:16:29,039 --> 00:16:32,919
all he can and refuses to give will at last

232
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,000
be unable to get. For it is as much a

233
00:16:36,039 --> 00:16:39,799
spiritual law that we cannot get unless we give, as

234
00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:43,840
that we cannot give unless we get. Giving has always

235
00:16:43,879 --> 00:16:46,480
been taught as a great and important duty by all

236
00:16:46,519 --> 00:16:50,120
religious teachers. This is because giving is one of the

237
00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:54,120
highways of personal growth and progress. It is a means

238
00:16:54,159 --> 00:16:57,960
by which we attain to greater and greater unselfishness, and

239
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,960
by which we prevent the falling back in to selfishness.

240
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,359
It implies that we recognize our spiritual and social kinship

241
00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,400
with our fellow men, and are willing to part with

242
00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,960
a position of that which we have earned or possess.

243
00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,200
For a man who the more he gets, hungers for

244
00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:20,039
more still and refuses to loosen his grasp upon his

245
00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:25,480
accumulating store, like a wild beast with its prey, is retrogressing.

246
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,640
He is shutting himself out from all the higher joy

247
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:33,559
giving qualities and from free in life giving communion with unselfish,

248
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:39,559
happy human hearts. Dickinson Scrooge in a Christmas Carol, represents

249
00:17:39,559 --> 00:17:42,480
the condition of such a man with graphic vividness and

250
00:17:42,559 --> 00:17:48,079
dramatic force. Our public men in England today, probably also

251
00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:52,319
in America, are nearly all I think I might say all,

252
00:17:52,799 --> 00:17:56,279
for I have not yet met an exception great givers.

253
00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:04,200
These men lord mayors, may magistrates, town and city councilors,

254
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:08,720
and all men fulfilling responsible public offices. Being men who

255
00:18:08,799 --> 00:18:12,160
have been singularly successful in the management of their own

256
00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:15,880
private affairs, are considered the best men for the management

257
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:20,319
of public affairs, and numerous noble institutions throughout the land

258
00:18:20,839 --> 00:18:25,440
are perpetual witnesses to the munificence of their gifts. Nor

259
00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:28,119
have I been able to find any substantial truth. And

260
00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:32,519
accusation so often hurled against such men by the envious

261
00:18:32,559 --> 00:18:37,799
and unsuccessful, that their riches are made unjustly. Without being

262
00:18:37,839 --> 00:18:43,599
perfect men. They are an honorable class of manly, vigorous, generous,

263
00:18:43,839 --> 00:18:49,519
and successful men who have acquired riches and honor by sheer, industry, ability,

264
00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:54,839
and uprightness. Let a man beware of greed, of meanness,

265
00:18:54,960 --> 00:19:00,799
of envy, of jealousy, of suspicion. For these things, if harbored,

266
00:19:01,279 --> 00:19:04,440
will rob him of all that is best in life,

267
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:08,000
even all that is best in material things, as well

268
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,640
as all that is best in character and happiness. Let

269
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:15,519
him be liberal of heart and generous of hand, magnanimous

270
00:19:15,559 --> 00:19:20,119
and trusting, not only giving cheerfully and often of his substance,

271
00:19:20,799 --> 00:19:23,640
but allowing his friends and fellow men freedom of thought

272
00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:28,160
and action. Let him be thus, and honor, plenty and

273
00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,880
prosperity will come knocking at the door for admittance as

274
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:37,319
his friends and guests. Gentleness is akin to divinity. Perhaps

275
00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,839
no quality is so far removed from all that is coarse, brutal,

276
00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:45,200
and selfish as gentleness, so that when one is becoming gentle,

277
00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:49,359
he is becoming divine. It can only be acquired after

278
00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:54,160
much experience and through great self discipline. It only becomes

279
00:19:54,279 --> 00:19:57,480
established in a man's heart when he has controlled and

280
00:19:57,519 --> 00:20:02,000
brought into subjection his animal voice, a distinct, firm but

281
00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:08,400
quiet annunciation, and freedom from excitement, vehemence, or resentment in

282
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:14,319
particularly aggravating circumstances. If there is one quality which, above

283
00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:18,400
all others, should distinguish the religious man, it is the

284
00:20:18,519 --> 00:20:21,599
quality of gentleness, for it is the hall mark of

285
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:26,079
spiritual culture. The rudely aggressive man is an affront to

286
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:32,599
cultivated minds and unselfish hearts. Our word gentleman has not

287
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,839
altogether departed from its original meaning. It is still applied

288
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:40,200
to one who is modest and self restrained, who is

289
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,839
considerate for the feelings and welfare of others. A gentleman

290
00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:49,720
whose good behavior is prompted by thoughtfulness and kindliness, is

291
00:20:49,799 --> 00:20:54,680
always loved, whatever may be his origin. Quarrelsome people make

292
00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:58,759
a display in their bickering and recriminations of their ignorance

293
00:20:58,759 --> 00:21:02,480
and lack of culture. The man who has perfected himself

294
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:06,599
in gentleness never quarrels. He never returns the hard word.

295
00:21:07,279 --> 00:21:10,480
He leaves it alone, or meets it with a gentle word,

296
00:21:11,039 --> 00:21:15,440
which is far more powerful than wrath. Gentleness is wedded

297
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:19,119
to wisdom, and the wise man has overcome all anger

298
00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:24,240
in himself, and so understands how to overcome it in others.

299
00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,400
The gentleman is saved from most of the disturbances and

300
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:32,599
turmoils with which uncontrolled men afflict themselves. While they are

301
00:21:32,599 --> 00:21:36,359
wearing themselves out with wasteful and needless strain, he is

302
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:41,279
quiet and composed, and such quietness and composure are strong

303
00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:45,119
to win in the battle of life. Insight is the

304
00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:50,160
gift of sympathy. The sympathetic mind is the profoundly perceiving mind.

305
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,480
We understand by experience and not by argument. Before we

306
00:21:55,519 --> 00:21:58,799
can know a thing or being, our life must touch

307
00:21:58,839 --> 00:22:04,119
it or his life. Argument analyzes the outer skin, but

308
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:08,119
sympathy reaches to the heart. The cynic sees the hat

309
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,119
and coat and thinks he sees the man. The sympathetic

310
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,359
seer sees the man and is not concerned with the

311
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,519
hat and coat. In all kinds of hatred, there is

312
00:22:19,559 --> 00:22:24,319
a separation by which each misjudges the other. In all

313
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,599
kinds of love, there is a mystic union by which

314
00:22:27,599 --> 00:22:32,119
each knows the other. Sympathy, being the purest form of

315
00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:36,079
this the greatest poet, because he has the largest heart.

316
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,519
No other figure in all literature has shown such a

317
00:22:39,559 --> 00:22:43,440
profound knowledge of the human heart and of nature, both

318
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,880
animate and inanimate. The personal Shakespeare is not to be

319
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,200
found in his works. He is merged by sympathy into

320
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:57,279
his characters, the wise man in the Philosopher, the madman

321
00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:01,279
in the Fool, the drunkard in the Harlot. These he,

322
00:23:01,559 --> 00:23:05,799
for the time, into their particular experiences, knew them better

323
00:23:05,839 --> 00:23:11,720
than they knew themselves. Shakespeare has no partiality, no prejudice.

324
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,799
His sympathy embraces all, from the lowest to the highest.

325
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,640
Prejudice is the great barrier to sympathy and knowledge. It

326
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:24,839
is impossible to understand those against whom one harbors a prejudice.

327
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,559
We only see men and things as they are. When

328
00:23:28,599 --> 00:23:33,240
we divest our minds of partial judgments, we become seers

329
00:23:33,279 --> 00:23:37,920
as we become sympathizers. Sympathy has knowledge for her companion.

330
00:23:39,079 --> 00:23:42,960
Inseparable are the feeling heart and the seeing eye. The

331
00:23:43,039 --> 00:23:46,559
man of pity is the man of prophecy, he whose

332
00:23:46,599 --> 00:23:49,680
heart beats in tune with all hearts. To him the

333
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,640
contents of all hearts are revealed, nor are past in

334
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,359
future any longer insoluble mysteries. To the man of sympathy,

335
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:02,440
his moral insight apprehends the perfect round of human life.

336
00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:07,559
Sympathetic insight lifts a man into the consciousness of freedom, gladness,

337
00:24:07,599 --> 00:24:12,079
and power. His spirit inhales joy as his lungs inhale air.

338
00:24:13,039 --> 00:24:15,640
There are no longer any fears of his fellow men,

339
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:21,640
of competition, hard times, enemies and the like. These groveling

340
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,359
illusions have disappeared, and there has opened up before his

341
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:29,119
awakened vision a realm of greatness and grandeur.