aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

FEOM NEW ZEALAND TO CHINA. 107
MEN IN AND OP THE WOELD.
It quite shocked me, a few hours since, to hear a man say,
" Well, the only two principles insuring success in this age
are, to look out for one's self first, and, secondly, to consider
every man a rogue till proved honest." Are not such
words revelators, — voiced echoes out of a grasping, cankering
selfishness ? Is. not a man-distruster a bad man-helper ?
Did ever a libertine believe in the virtue of woman ? Or did
ever a thief like Ahab fail to keep his locks and keys bright ?
The sordid, selfish man, the petty village lawyer, knows
no other text than this :
" To them that are under the law
I became as under the law, and to them that are without
law, as without law ; " adding, not as Paul did, " that I
might gain iAew," but, " that I might gain their fees." In
this money-worshiping, transition state of society, men seem
to be drifting into a set
of repulsive atoms, each seeking his
own gain and welfare to the neglect of the common weal.
This " getting-on system, " with the " survival of the fittest
" and the " Devil take the hindmost," is well expressed
in the abominable lines, —
" As I walked by myself, I said to myself,
And tlie selfsame self said to me,
Look out for thyself : take care of thyself
For nobody cares for thee."
i
Let us deepen the thought, and widen the vision, of existence
! Essential spirit infills and spans all space. The " image
of God" — the divine spark — is within; and human nature,
therefore, sounded to its depths, is good. If there is
not a charity that " believeth all things," there is a charity
that " hopeth all things " and, ; further, there is in the
world tender sympathy, genuine friendship, manly honesty,
generous benevolence, unselfish love ; and there are beautiful
characters too : the angels affirm it. Cunning, shrewd,
and selfish men, who can not discover it, are comparable to
blind men who can not see the sun. Be it mine still to seek