The Safeguard Against Despair

“Strengthen the things which remain,”

Rev. iii. 2.

THERE are two courses which have been proposed as a safeguard against despair. The first and most common is the disparagement of the thing lost. It is the method of the fox in .^sop’s fable; the grapes become sour when they are lifted out of reach. Many a schoolboy, when he loses the prize, says it is not worth having. Many a man when he fails to get an appointment says, “It is a poor thing; I wouldn’t have taken it.” To speak thus is to give loss a great victory. It is to assert that we have not only lost the object but have been deprived of our love for it. Never encourage such a sentiment! I agree with Tennyson that it is better to keep your grief than to lose your love. But there is another way of avoiding despair when loss comes. It is the way prescribed by the man of Patmos — the man who was separated from his dearest by a cruel sea. Does he say that these things separated from him are not worth having? On the contrary, he longs for the time when there shall be ^’ no more “sea. But meantime there is another refuge, a better refuge, than the sourness of the grapes removed from him; it is the sweetness of the grapes that are left to him. To all souls and to all Churches which have suffered loss he stretches out his hands, and cries, “Strengthen the things which remain!”

O thou who in the time of loss seest no refuge but either despair or disparagement, I show thee a more excellent way! I would not have thee disparage thy dead. I would not have thee drop them from thy memory as if they had never been. But I would have thee to turn memory into present love — to make thy remembrance of the dead a means of devotion to the living. I have heard the child in Mrs. TTemans’ poem say. “O wliilc my brother with me ])]aye(l, wcnild I had loved him more!” It is a very pretty sentiment and a very common experience. But I do not think the full moral is given when the child in this poem is told “Thy brother is in heaven.” If we stop with that statement we nip in the bud the aspiration after better conduct. I would say to the child: “You have other playmates who are still on earth. They, too, may be soon called from you. Whenever you think of how much more you might have done for the brother you have lost, remember those playmates who remain! Remember that when they go you will have the same remorse for them; try as much as you can to love them now!” So would I say to the child; and so, my brother, I say to thee. Sink not in despair at the memory of thy shortcomings to those whom thou canst help no longer! Turn that memory into present love! Remember those whom thou canst help! Remember the children that are still playing in the market-place! Remember the needs that can still be met, the wrongs that can still be righted! Remember the hands that still are unwarmed, the feet that still are weary, the hearts that still are sad! Remember to say the word of kindness today! Love the more deeply because death has a deep shadow! Lavish upon the morning what the night may prevent thee from giving! Strengthen, strengthen the things which remain!