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recoiling upon the individual himself , breaking in blessings or m woe . As in endeavouring to live for himself a man must necessarily live for others ; so if , Mason -like , he adopts the plan of living for others , he will find that he has lived most profitably for himself . As the evil
deeds of the criminal recoil upon the agent , so the sweet charities ox the philanthropist will flow back gracefully upon himself . The virtues of his early youth will brace to moral excellence the energies of his manhood , and the charities of his mature age will cast a radiance of tranquillity and peace over the evening of his years .
And this is not all . A man who uses society for himself is generally found to defeat his own intentions . The time must come when he will feel his dependence upon the world which he has abused , and when he will sorely rue the loss of the confidence which he has betrayed . " Individually and collectively it is the same . By their selfish inconsideration the aristocracy have been driven out ot their
own park ; and by rude recrimination and ruffianism the mob have also forfeited their liberty . So on the other hand , a man who lives for society and seeks the public good will find , sooner or later , that society will lavish its favours or its honours upon him . There may be exceptions to this ; but if there be , there is another world in which the rule will be made good . Society has , indeed , often lavished
posthumous honours on the memory of its benefactors , ill-requited during life . John Howard , who spent the last few days of his marvellously useful life in acts of self-denial and philanthropy , received but few rewards during his life ; but when he had ceased to breathe , the captives he had liberated , the hungry he had fed , and the wretched he
had soothed , came far and near , by hundreds , and by thousands , that each might shed a tear upon his grave . He rests at Cherson , on the borders of the Euxine ; and his humble tomb , within a short distance of the din of war , is even now more respected by the Russian nation than the gorgeous sepulchre of the misanthropic Nicholas .
A young solicitor began the world with nothing to depend upon except a few pounds , fair professional acquirements , and an honest and benevolent heart . A poor mechanic applied to him for instructions to obtain a patent for a new invention , but this required an outlay of thirty pounds . The mechanic did not own as many shillings . The solicitor lent him the sum required , telling him he would never trouble him for it if the invention did not succeed . After the lapse
of a few years the mechanic , now grown rich , had paid his early friend the lawyer some thousands of pounds in law expenses for prosecutions for infringements of the patent . * Such events are common . Disappointed men delight to recount and parade cases in which the benefactors of mankind have died poor and neglected , monuments of the ingratitude of society : but it has generally been their own fault ; and inventors of useful arts or contrivances , though eminently beneficial , are not always specimens of the class whose aims are pure , and whose motives philanthropic .
A fact : —it need scarcely be added , the solicitor was a Mason . Ton . i . 5 n
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
recoiling upon the individual himself , breaking in blessings or m woe . As in endeavouring to live for himself a man must necessarily live for others ; so if , Mason -like , he adopts the plan of living for others , he will find that he has lived most profitably for himself . As the evil
deeds of the criminal recoil upon the agent , so the sweet charities ox the philanthropist will flow back gracefully upon himself . The virtues of his early youth will brace to moral excellence the energies of his manhood , and the charities of his mature age will cast a radiance of tranquillity and peace over the evening of his years .
And this is not all . A man who uses society for himself is generally found to defeat his own intentions . The time must come when he will feel his dependence upon the world which he has abused , and when he will sorely rue the loss of the confidence which he has betrayed . " Individually and collectively it is the same . By their selfish inconsideration the aristocracy have been driven out ot their
own park ; and by rude recrimination and ruffianism the mob have also forfeited their liberty . So on the other hand , a man who lives for society and seeks the public good will find , sooner or later , that society will lavish its favours or its honours upon him . There may be exceptions to this ; but if there be , there is another world in which the rule will be made good . Society has , indeed , often lavished
posthumous honours on the memory of its benefactors , ill-requited during life . John Howard , who spent the last few days of his marvellously useful life in acts of self-denial and philanthropy , received but few rewards during his life ; but when he had ceased to breathe , the captives he had liberated , the hungry he had fed , and the wretched he
had soothed , came far and near , by hundreds , and by thousands , that each might shed a tear upon his grave . He rests at Cherson , on the borders of the Euxine ; and his humble tomb , within a short distance of the din of war , is even now more respected by the Russian nation than the gorgeous sepulchre of the misanthropic Nicholas .
A young solicitor began the world with nothing to depend upon except a few pounds , fair professional acquirements , and an honest and benevolent heart . A poor mechanic applied to him for instructions to obtain a patent for a new invention , but this required an outlay of thirty pounds . The mechanic did not own as many shillings . The solicitor lent him the sum required , telling him he would never trouble him for it if the invention did not succeed . After the lapse
of a few years the mechanic , now grown rich , had paid his early friend the lawyer some thousands of pounds in law expenses for prosecutions for infringements of the patent . * Such events are common . Disappointed men delight to recount and parade cases in which the benefactors of mankind have died poor and neglected , monuments of the ingratitude of society : but it has generally been their own fault ; and inventors of useful arts or contrivances , though eminently beneficial , are not always specimens of the class whose aims are pure , and whose motives philanthropic .
A fact : —it need scarcely be added , the solicitor was a Mason . Ton . i . 5 n