most to be dreaded in life is common to all men. The light of heaven, the air, the earth, the heritage of the senses, the play of the affections, the treasures of a good conscience, may be possessed by all. From the loss of friends, the encroachments of disease, the disorder of the passions, the forebodings caused by sin of an awful future, and from death, none are exempt. Where, then, there is so much in common, the difference of enjoyment that mere wealth or power can give is so small that if it must cost much struggle it will generally be found that the "play is not worth the candle," that we have sacrificed ease and independence to imaginary advantages.

It only remains to speak of the desire of esteem.

For this the other desires are, in a measure, the condition, since esteem is most fully reached through the use we make of property, knowledge, and power. It has reference not only to our own happiness, but to our coöperation with others, and is an indispensable condition of the social results intended by God. It is less stirring than the desire of power, and often requires us to forbear action as well as to act. With the desire of arbitrary power it is incompatible. He who would employ the means requisite to gain that, and would use it when gained, must forfeit esteem. Napoleon is reported to have said of his brother Joseph that he was too good a man to be a great man.

That this is a natural desire, is not now questioned. It appears in children before they are able to speak, and with many is stronger than any other, even than that of life itself or of a good conscience. Men will sacrifice life for the good opinion of others, and will lie that they may not be thought liars. Its opposite, scorn, contempt, ridicule, are among the things we most dread, and it requires the sternest principle and the greatest independence of judg

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ment to stand before them. To do this is a higher form of heroism than to stand before the cannon's mouth. Few will not remember the impressions from first reading Milton's description of the faithful angel with whom

"Nor number nor example wrought

To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind,
Though single. From amidst them forth he passed
Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustained
Superior, nor of violence feared aught;

And with retorted scorn his back he turned

On those proud towers to swift destruction doomed.”

From the legitimate influence of this desire the benefits are equal to its strength. The danger also is in the same proportion. This arises from the want of coincidence between the desire and the conscience in others and in ourselves, and will be in two directions.

In the first place, we may be desirous of doing right, but be tempted to violate our conscience in order to please others. This we are never to do, either by evasion or compliance. Those who do this are a kind of inverted hypocrites, seeming worse than they are. In matters of indifference we are to be ready to comply with the inclinations, and even the prejudices of others, but if we violate our conscience we not only incur guilt, but are generally despised by the very persons whose good opinion we seek. Besides, it is not to the good opinion of men only that we should have respect. Many things that are highly esteemed among men are abomination in the sight of God. This often causes a fearful conflict, but there must be no faltering.

In the second place, we may suppose others to be pleased with good qualities, and be tempted to make a pretence of those we do not possess, thus violating our conscience by

*

If admiration be

acting a lie. This takes two forms. sought, it will be affectation; if confidence and friendship, hypocrisy. In both we act a lie, but the one is a ridiculous lie chiefly hurtful to ourselves, while the other is a lie of the darkest hue. Affectation and hypocrisy! To how much light satire and spleen, to how much deep distrust and dark misanthropy, have they given rise! How have they given to human life, in which such momentous interests are involved, the appearance of a masquerade and a farce!

Has any one, then, principle? Let him abide by it. Would any one seem to be anything? Let him be that thing. This is the freest and safest way, and quite as easy as to preserve a state of forced and dangerous concealment. Regarding these two cautions, we need not fear being too much influenced by a regard to the good opinion of those around us.

The esteem spoken of hitherto is that of those whom we know, and with whom we have intercourse. But we also desire the good opinion of those who are remote from us in space and in time, whom we never expect to see or to have intercourse with. We desire fame, and, what is the highest form of it, glory.

By some this form of the desire of esteem has been ranked as a separate desire, but without reason. By others it has been greatly ridiculed, also without reason, since it is a natural form of the desire, and one justified by the Scriptures. "The righteous," they say, "shall be had in everlasting remembrance;" and Christians are those who seek for "glory and honor," as well as for "immortality."

Of glory as it is commonly conceived, Cousin has given the best account I have seen. That I propose to give in substance, and then make some remarks upon it.

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And first, we are to separate glory from notoriety. The passions and feelings of one man are common to all, and mankind are always aroused by any vivid and startling exhibitions of their common nature in any of its elements or forms. If this exhibition be of the darker and fiendlike passions, they will utter a cry of execration which is at once notoriety and infamy.

We must also distinguish glory from reputation. This implies something praiseworthy to a certain extent, but may be gained by almost any one who pleases. Mankind, from education, taste, prejudice, are divided into parties, sects, coteries, the members of which are valued, not for their common humanity, but for the elements of difference by which that party or sect may happen to be distinguished. This is their common point of sympathy, and the man who embodies most fully, and expresses most strongly, the peculiarities of the party, will have reputation, will be the great man of the party. But the very cause of his reputation cuts him off from sympathy with the race, and he must pass into oblivion. Such are the party men of the day, who flourish because they are party men, and for that reason, so far as they are party men, must fade. Such are the zealots and sectarians, whether in politics or religion, who are distinguished by anything which is not connected with the great interests of truth and of duty. The possession, in an uncommon degree, of any quality, as wit, humor, memory, will confer reputation. It may be gained by contrivance and trick, by collusion and bargaining.

But with glory it is not so. It has been said already that the elements of humanity are common to all, and that it always recognizes and responds to any vivid portrayal of itself. We are all conscious of indefinite workings of our

minds, of undefined and shapeless feelings, and when these are brought out into perfect expression by the touch of genius we are delighted. We admire, and are grateful to the man who can give us new aspects either of nature or of ourselves. It is the glory of all great poets and philosophers, of those who represent, and of those who analyze nature and man, that in whatever age or country their works may be found by man sufficiently cultivated to understand them, they meet with a recognition and a response. This master minds alone can accomplish. Chance has nothing to do with it. Artifice and pretence are futile

here.

In the same way military glory arises from the relation of those who gain it to the permanent interests and universal feelings of man. What gives interest to a battle is not that it is a theatre where brute force contends, but one where different interests and principles are arrayed against each other. It has often seemed to depend upon the fate of a single battle whether liberty or despotism, civilization or barbarism, should be prevalent in the world. When the rights and destinies of men are thus at stake, he who is most perfectly under the control of the master idea that animates all, and most fully represents it, naturally becomes the leader. It is not in him as an individual that we are interested, it is in the principles of which he is the representative, and of which his acts are the manifestations. If by exertion and sacrifice he cause those principles to prevail, we feel that he is the benefactor of mankind, that he is our benefactor, and the cry of admiration and gratitude which mankind utter towards such a man is glory.

It is, therefore, only by producing some great result that glory can be obtained. To receive glory from mankind