,a ,,christmas ,,sermon by ,,robert ,,louis ,,stevenson ,new ,york #aijj ,a ,,christmas ,,sermon ,by the time this paper appears1 ,i shall have been talking for twelve months2#a and it is thought ,i should take my leave in a formal and seasonable manner4 ,valedictory eloquence is rare1 and death-bed sayings have not often hit the mark of the occasion4 ,charles ,second1 wit and sceptic1 a man whose life had been one long lesson in human incredulity1 an easy-going comrade1 a manoeuvring king--remembered and embodied all his wit and scepticism along with more than his usual good humour in the famous ,i am afraid1 gentlemen1 ,i am an unconscionable time a-dying4 ,footnote #a3 i4e4 ,in the pages of ,scribner's ,magazine 7#ahhh74 ,i ,an unconscionable time a-dying--there is the picture 7,i am afraid1 gentlemen17 of your life and of mine4 ,the sands run out1 and the hours are numbered and imputed1 and the days go by2 and when the last of these finds us1 we have been a long time dying1 and what else8 ,the very length is something1 if we reach that hour of separation undishonoured2 and to have lived at all is doubtless 7in the soldierly expression7 to have served4 ,there is a tale in ,tacitus of how the veterans mutinied in the ,german wilderness2 of how they mobbed ,germanicus1 clamouring to go home2 and of how1 seizing their general's hand1 these old1 war-worn exiles passed his finger along their toothless gums4 ,sunt lacrymae rerum3 this was the most eloquent of the songs of ,simeon4 ,and when a man has lived to a fair age1 he bears his marks of service4 ,he may have never been remarked upon the breach at the head of the army2 at least he shall have lost his teeth on the camp bread4 ,the idealism of serious people in this age of ours is of a noble character4 ,it never seems to them that they have served enough2 they have a fine impatience of their virtues4 ,it were perhaps more modest to be singly thankful that we are no worse4 ,it is not only our enemies1 those desperate characters--it is we ourselves who know not what we do2--thence springs the glimmering hope that perhaps we do better than we think3 that to scramble through this random business with hands reasonably clean1 to have played the part of a man or woman with some reasonable fulness1 to have often resisted the diabolic1 and at the end to be still resisting it1 is for the poor human soldier to have done right well4 ,to ask to see some fruit of our endeavour is but a transcendental way of serving for reward2 and what we take to be contempt of self is only greed of hire4 ,and again if we require so much of ourselves1 shall we not require much of others8 ,if we do not genially judge our own deficiencies1 is it not to be feared we shall be even stern to the trespasses of others8 ,and he who 7looking back upon his own life7 can see no more than that he has been unconscionably long a-dying1 will he not be tempted to think his neighbour unconscionably long of getting hanged8 ,it is probable that nearly all who think of conduct at all1 think of it too much2 it is certain we all think too much of sin4 ,we are not damned for doing wrong1 but for not doing right2 ,christ would never hear of negative morality2 thou shalt was ever his word1 with which he superseded thou shalt not4 ,to make our idea of morality centre on forbidden acts is to defile the imagination and to introduce into our judgments of our fellow-men a secret element of gusto4 ,if a thing is wrong for us1 we should not dwell upon the thought of it2 or we shall soon dwell upon it with inverted pleasure4 ,if we cannot drive it from our minds--one thing of two3 either our creed is in the wrong and we must more indulgently remodel it2 or else1 if our morality be in the right1 we are criminal lunatics and should place our persons in restraint4 ,a mark of such unwholesomely divided minds is the passion for interference with others3 the ,fox without the ,tail was of this breed1 but had 7if his biographer is to be trusted7 a certain antique civility now out of date4 ,a man may have a flaw1 a weakness1 that unfits him for the duties of life1 that spoils his temper1 that threatens his integrity1 or that betrays him into cruelty4 ,it has to be conquered2 but it must never be suffered to engross his thoughts4 ,the true duties lie all upon the farther side1 and must be attended to with a whole mind so soon as this preliminary clearing of the decks has been effected4 ,in order that he may be kind and honest1 it may be needful he should become a total abstainer2 let him become so then1 and the next day let him forget the circumstance4 ,trying to be kind and honest will require all his thoughts2 a mortified appetite is never a wise companion2 in so far as he has had to mortify an appetite1 he will still be the worse man2 and of such an one a great deal of cheerfulness will be required in judging life1 and a great deal of humility in judging others4 ,it may be argued again that dissatisfaction with our life's endeavour springs in some degree from dulness4 ,we require higher tasks1 because we do not recognise the height of those we have4 ,trying to be kind and honest seems an affair too simple and too inconsequential for gentlemen of our heroic mould2 we had rather set ourselves to something bold1 arduous1 and conclusive2 we had rather found a schism or suppress a heresy1 cut off a hand or mortify an appetite4 ,but the task before us1 which is to co-endure with our existence1 is rather one of microscopic fineness1 and the heroism required is that of patience4 ,there is no cutting of the ,gordian knots of life2 each must be smilingly unravelled4 ,to be honest1 to be kind--to earn a little and to spend a little less1 to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence1 to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered1 to keep a few friends but these without capitulation--above all1 on the same grim condition1 to keep friends with himself--here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy4 ,he has an ambitious soul who would ask more2 he has a hopeful spirit who should look in such an enterprise to be successful4 ,there is indeed one element in human destiny that not blindness itself can controvert3 whatever else we are intended to do1 we are not intended to succeed2 failure is the fate allotted4 ,it is so in every art and study2 it is so above all in the continent art of living well4 ,here is a pleasant thought for the year's end or for the end of life3 ,only self-deception will be satisfied1 and there need be no despair for the despairer4 ,,ii ,but ,christmas is not only the mile-mark of another year1 moving us to thoughts of self-examination3 it is a season1 from all its associations1 whether domestic or religious1 suggesting thoughts of joy4 ,a man dissatisfied with his endeavours is a man tempted to sadness4 ,and in the midst of the winter1 when his life runs lowest and he is reminded of the empty chairs of his beloved1 it is well he should be condemned to this fashion of the smiling face4 ,noble disappointment1 noble self-denial are not to be admired1 not even to be pardoned1 if they bring bitterness4 ,it is one thing to enter the kingdom of heaven maim2 another to maim yourself and stay without4 ,and the kingdom of heaven is of the childlike1 of those who are easy to please1 who love and who give pleasure4 ,mighty men of their hands1 the smiters and the builders and the judges1 have lived long and done sternly and yet preserved this lovely character2 and among our carpet interests and twopenny concerns1 the shame were indelible if we should lose it4 ,gentleness and cheerfulness1 these come before all morality2 they are the perfect duties4 ,and it is the trouble with moral men that they have neither one nor other4 ,it was the moral man1 the ,pharisee1 whom ,christ could not away with4 ,if your morals make you dreary1 depend upon it they are wrong4 ,i do not say give them up1 for they may be all you have2 but conceal them like a vice1 lest they should spoil the lives of better and simpler people4 ,a strange temptation attends upon man3 to keep his eye on pleasures1 even when he will not share in them2 to aim all his morals against them4 ,this very year a lady 7singular iconoclast67 proclaimed a crusade against dolls2 and the racy sermon against lust is a feature of the age4 ,i venture to call such moralists insincere4 ,at any excess or perversion of a natural appetite1 their lyre sounds of itself with relishing denunciations2 but for all displays of the truly diabolic--envy1 malice1 the mean lie1 the mean silence1 the calumnious truth1 the backbiter1 the petty tyrant1 the peevish poisoner of family life--their standard is quite different4 ,these are wrong1 they will admit1 yet somehow not so wrong2 there is no zeal in their assault on them1 no secret element of gusto warms up the sermon2 it is for things not wrong in themselves that they reserve the choicest of their indignation4 ,a man may naturally disclaim all moral kinship with the ,reverend ,mr4 ,zola or the hobgoblin old lady of the dolls2 for these are gross and naked instances4 ,and yet in each of us some similar element resides4 ,the sight of a pleasure in which we cannot or else will not share moves us to a particular impatience4 ,it may be because we are envious1 or because we are sad1 or because we dislike noise and romping--being so refined1 or because--being so philosophic--we have an overweighing sense of life's gravity3 at least1 as we go on in years1 we are all tempted to frown upon our neighbour's pleasures4 ,people are nowadays so fond of resisting temptations2 here is one to be resisted4 ,they are fond of self-denial2 here is a propensity that cannot be too peremptorily denied4 ,there is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbours good4 ,one person ,i have to make good3 myself4 ,but my duty to my neighbour is much more nearly expressed by saying that ,i have to make him happy--if ,i may4 ,,iii ,happiness and goodness1 according to canting moralists1 stand in the relation of effect and cause4 ,there was never anything less proved or less probable3 our happiness is never in our own hands2 we inherit our constitution2 we stand buffet among friends and enemies2 we may be so built as to feel a sneer or an aspersion with unusual keenness1 and so circumstanced as to be unusually exposed to them2 we may have nerves very sensitive to pain1 and be afflicted with a disease very painful4 ,virtue will not help us1 and it is not meant to help us4 ,it is not even its own reward1 except for the self-centred and--,i had almost said--the unamiable4 ,no man can pacify his conscience2 if quiet be what he want1 he shall do better to let that organ perish from disuse4 ,and to avoid the penalties of the law1 and the minor capitis diminutio of social ostracism1 is an affair of wisdom--of cunning1 if you will--and not of virtue4 ,in his own life1 then1 a man is not to expect happiness1 only to profit by it gladly when it shall arise2 he is on duty here2 he knows not how or why1 and does not need to know2 he knows not for what hire1 and must not ask4 ,somehow or other1 though he does not know what goodness is1 he must try to be good2 somehow or other1 though he cannot tell what will do it1 he must try to give happiness to others4 ,and no doubt there comes in here a frequent clash of duties4 ,how far is he to make his neighbour happy8 ,how far must he respect that smiling face1 so easy to cloud1 so hard to brighten again8 ,and how far1 on the other side1 is he bound to be his brother's keeper and the prophet of his own morality8 ,how far must he resent evil8 ,the difficulty is that we have little guidance2 ,christ's sayings on the point being hard to reconcile with each other1 and 7the most of them7 hard to accept4 ,but the truth of his teaching would seem to be this3 in our own person and fortune1 we should be ready to accept and to pardon all2 it is our cheek we are to turn1 r coat that we are to give away to the man who has taken our cloak4 ,but when another's face is buffeted1 perhaps a little of the lion will become us best4 ,that we are to suffer others to be injured1 and stand by1 is not conceivable and surely not desirable4 ,revenge1 says ,bacon1 is a kind of wild justice2 its judgments at least are delivered by an insane judge2 and in our own quarrel we can see nothing truly and do nothing wisely4 ,but in the quarrel of our neighbour1 let us be more bold4 ,one person's happiness is as sacred as another's2 when we cannot defend both1 let us defend one with a stout heart4 ,it is only in so far as we are doing this1 that we have any right to interfere3 the defence of ,b is our only ground of action against ,a4 ,a has as good a right to go to the devil1 as we to go to glory2 and neither knows what he does4 ,the truth is that all these interventions and denunciations and militant mongerings of moral half-truths1 though they be sometimes needful1 though they are often enjoyable1 do yet belong to an inferior grade of duties4 ,ill-temper and envy and revenge find here an arsenal of pious disguises2 this is the playground of inverted lusts4 ,with a little more patience and a little less temper1 a gentler and wiser method might be found in almost every case2 and the knot that we cut by some fine heady quarrel-scene in private life1 or1 in public affairs1 by some denunciatory act against what we are pleased to call our neighbour's vices1 might yet have been unwoven by the hand of sympathy4 ,,iv ,to look back upon the past year1 and see how little we have striven and to what small purpose3 and how often we have been cowardly and hung back1 or temerarious and rushed unwisely in2 and how every day and all day long we have transgressed the law of kindness2--it may seem a paradox1 but in the bitterness of these discoveries1 a certain consolation resides4 ,life is not designed to minister to a man's vanity4 ,he goes upon his long business most of the time with a hanging head1 and all the time like a blind child4 ,full of rewards and pleasures as it is--so that to see the day break or the moon rise1 or to meet a friend1 or to hear the dinner-call when he is hungry1 fills him with surprising joys--this world is yet for him no abiding city4 ,friendships fall through1 health fails1 weariness assails him2 year after year1 he must thumb the hardly varying record of his own weakness and folly4 ,it is a friendly process of detachment4 ,when the time comes that he should go1 there need be few illusions left about himself4 ,here lies one who meant well1 tried a little1 failed much3--surely that may be his epitaph1 of which he need not be ashamed4 ,nor will he complain at the summons which calls a defeated soldier from the field3 defeated1 ay1 if he were ,paul or ,marcus ,aurelius6--but if there is still one inch of fight in his old spirit1 undishonoured4 ,the faith which sustained him in his life-long blindness and life-long disappointment will scarce even be required in this last formality of laying down his arms4 ,give him a march with his old bones2 there1 out of the glorious sun-coloured earth1 out of the day and the dust and the ecstasy--there goes another ,faithful ,failure6 ,from a recent book of verse1 where there is more than one such beautiful and manly poem1 ,i take this memorial piece3 it says better than ,i can1 what ,i love to think2 let it be our parting word4 ,a late lark twitters from the quiet skies2 ,and from the west1 ,where the sun1 his day's work ended1 ,lingers as in content1 ,there falls on the old1 gray city ,an influence luminous and serene1 ,a shining peace4 ,the smoke ascends ,in a rosy-and-golden haze4 ,the spires ,shine1 and are changed4 ,in the valley ,shadows rise4 ,the lark sings on4 ,the sun1 ,closing his benediction1 ,sinks1 and the darkening air ,thrills with a sense of the triumphing night-- ,night1 with her train of stars ,and her great gift of sleep4 ,so be my passing6 ,my task accomplished and the long day done1 ,my wages taken1 and in my heart ,some late lark singing1 ,let me be gathered to the quiet west1 ,the sundown splendid and serene1 ,death4#b #ahhh4 ,footnote #b3 ,from ,a ,book of ,verses by ,william ,ernest ,henley4 ,d4 ,nutt1 #ahhh4