,transcriber's ,note3 ,italics are enclosed in underscores4 ,additional notes will be found near the end of this ebook4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,old ,,manse--,,concord ,,compensation ,,being ,,an ,,essay ,,as ,,written ,,by ,,ralph ,,waldo ,,emerson ,illustration ,,done ,,into ,a ,,printed ,,book ,,by ,,the ,,roycrofters1 ,,at ,,the ,,shop1 ,,which ,,is ,,in ,,east ,,aurora1 ,,erie ,,county1 ,,new ,,york1 ,u4,s4,a4 ,,mcmiv ,copyright1 #aijc1 by ,the ,roycrofters1 ,east ,aurora1 ,n4 ,y4 ,in this ,god's world1 with its wild-whirling eddies and mad foam-oceans1 where men and nations perish as if without law1 and judgment for an unjust thing is sternly delayed1 dost thou think that there is therefore no justice8 99 99 99 99 ,i tell thee again there is nothing else but justice4 ,one strong thing ,i find here below3 the just thing1 the true thing4--,thomas ,carlyle4 ,,compensation ,ever since ,i was a boy ,i have wished to write a discourse on ,compensation2 for it had seemed to me when very young that on this subject ,life was ahead of theology and the people knew more than the preachers taught4 ,the documents1 too1 from which the doctrine is to be drawn1 charmed my fancy by their endless variety1 and lay always before me1 even in sleep2 for they are the tools in our hands1 the bread in our basket1 the transactions of the street1 the farm and the dwelling-house2 the greetings1 the relations1 the debts and credits1 the influence of character1 the nature and endowment of all men4 ,it seemed to me also that in it might be shown men a ray of divinity1 the present action of the ,soul of this world1 clean from all vestige of tradition2 and so the heart of man might be bathed by an inundation of eternal love1 conversing with that which he knows was always and always must be1 because it really is now4 ,it appeared moreover that if this doctrine could be stated in terms with any resemblance to those bright intuitions in which this truth is sometimes revealed to us1 it would be a star in many dark hours and crooked passages in our journey1 that would not suffer us to lose our way4 ,i was lately confirmed in these desires by hearing a sermon at church4 ,the preacher1 a man esteemed for his orthodoxy1 unfolded in the ordinary manner the doctrine of the ,last ,judgment4 ,he assumed that judgment is not executed in this world2 that the wicked are successful2 that the good are miserable2 and then urged from reason and from ,scripture a compensation to be made to both parties in the next life4 ,no offence appeared to be taken by the congregation at this doctrine4 ,as far as ,i could observe1 when the meeting broke up they separated without remark on the sermon4 ,yet what was the import of this teaching8 ,what did the preacher mean by saying that the good are miserable in the present life8 ,was it that houses and lands1 offices1 wine1 horses1 dress1 luxury1 are had by unprincipled men1 whilst the saints are poor and despised2 and that a compensation is to be made to these last hereafter1 by giving them the like gratifications another day1--bank-stock and doubloons1 venison and champagne8 ,this must be the compensation intended2 for what else8 ,is it that they are to have leave to pray and praise8 to love and serve men8 ,why1 that they can do now4 ,the legitimate inference the disciple would draw was1 8,we are to have such a good time as the sinners have now20--or1 to push it to its extreme import1--8,you sin now1 we shall sin by-and-by2 we would sin now1 if we could2 not being successful we expect our revenge to-morrow40 ,the fallacy lay in the immense concession that the bad are successful2 that justice is not done now4 ,the blindness of the preacher consisted in deferring to the base estimate of the market of what constitutes a manly success1 instead of confronting and convicting the world from the truth2 announcing the ,presence of the ,soul2 the omnipotence of the ,will2 and so establishing the standard of good and ill1 of success and falsehood1 and summoning the dead to its present tribunal4 ,i find a similar base tone in the popular religious works of the day1 and the same doctrines assumed by the literary men when occasionally they treat the related topics4 ,i think that our popular theology has gained in decorum1 and not in principle1 over the superstitions it has displaced4 ,but men are better than this theology4 ,their daily life gives it the lie4 ,every ingenuous and aspiring soul leaves the doctrine behind him in his own experience1 and all men feel sometimes the falsehood which they cannot demonstrate4 ,for men are wiser than they know4 ,that which they hear in schools and pulpits without afterthought1 if said in conversation would probably be questioned in silence4 ,if a man dogmatize in a mixed company on ,providence and the divine laws1 he is answered by a silence which conveys well enough to an observer the dissatisfaction of the hearer1 but his incapacity to make his own statement4 ,i shall attempt in this and the following chapter to record some facts that indicate the path of the law of ,compensation2 happy beyond my expectation if ,i shall truly draw the smallest arc of this circle4 ,polarity1 or action and reaction1 we meet in every part of nature2 in darkness and light2 in heat and cold2 in the ebb and flow of waters2 in male and female2 in the inspiration and expiration of plants and animals2 in the systole and diastole of the heart2 in the undulations of fluids and of sound2 in the centrifugal and centripetal gravity2 in electricity1 galvanism and chemical affinity4 ,superinduce magnetism at one end of a needle1 the opposite magnetism takes place at the other end4 ,if the south attracts1 the north repels4 ,to empty here1 you must condense there4 ,an inevitable dualism bisects nature1 so that each thing is a half1 and suggests another thing to make it whole2 as1 spirit1 matter2 man1 woman2 subjective1 objective2 in1 out2 upper1 under2 motion1 rest2 yea1 nay4 ,whilst the world is thus dual1 so is every one of its parts4 ,the entire system of things gets represented in every particle4 ,there is somewhat that resembles the ebb and flow of the sea1 day and night1 man and woman1 in a single needle of the pine1 in a kernel of corn1 in each individual of every animal tribe4 ,the reaction1 so grand in the elements1 is repeated within these small boundaries4 ,for example1 in the animal kingdom the physiologist has observed that no creatures are favorites1 but a certain compensation balances every gift and every defect4 ,a surplusage given to one part is paid out of a reduction from another part of the same creature4 ,if the head and neck are enlarged1 the trunk and extremities are cut short4 ,the theory of the mechanic forces is another example4 ,what we gain in power is lost in time1 and the converse4 ,the periodic or compensating errors of the planets is another instance4 ,the influences of climate and soil in political history are another4 ,the cold climate invigorates4 ,the barren soil does not breed fevers1 crocodiles1 tigers1 or scorpions4 ,the same dualism underlies the nature and condition of man4 ,every excess causes a defect2 every defect an excess4 ,every sweet hath its sour2 every evil its good4 ,every faculty which is a receiver of pleasure has an equal penalty put on its abuse4 ,it is to answer for its moderation with its life4 ,for every grain of wit there is a grain of folly4 ,for every thing you have missed1 you have gained something else2 and for every thing you gain1 you lose something4 ,if riches increase1 they are increased that use them4 ,if the gatherer gathers too much1 nature takes out of the man what she puts into his chest2 swells the estate1 but kills the owner4 ,nature hates monopolies and exceptions4 ,the waves of the sea do not more speedily seek a level from their loftiest tossing than the varieties of condition tend to equalize themselves4 ,there is always some leveling circumstance that puts down the overbearing1 the strong1 the rich1 the fortunate1 substantially on the same ground with all others4 ,is a man too strong and fierce for society1 and by temper and position a bad citizen1--a morose ruffian1 with a dash of the pirate in him8--nature sends him a troop of pretty sons and daughters who are getting along in the dame's classes at the village school1 and love and fear for them smooths his grim scowl to courtesy4 ,thus she contrives to intenerate the granite and feldspar1 takes the boar out and puts the lamb in1 and keeps her balance true4 ,the farmer imagines power and place are fine things4 ,but the ,president has paid dear for his ,white ,house4 ,it has commonly cost him all his peace1 and the best of his manly attributes4 ,to preserve for a short time so conspicuous an appearance before the world1 he is content to eat dust before the real masters who stand erect behind the throne4 ,or do men desire the more substantial and permanent grandeur of genius8 ,neither has this an immunity4 ,he1 who by force of will or of thought is great1 and overlooks thousands1 has the responsibility of overlooking4 ,with every influx of light comes new danger4 ,has he light8 he must bear witness to the light1 and always outrun that sympathy which gives him such keen satisfaction1 by his fidelity to new revelations of the incessant soul4 ,he must hate father and mother1 wife and child4 ,has he all that the world loves and admires and covets8--he must cast behind him their admiration and afflict them by faithfulness to his truth and become a byword and a hissing4 ,this ,law writes the laws of cities and nations4 ,it will not be balked of its end in the smallest iota4 ,it is in vain to build or plot or combine against it4 ,things refuse to be mismanaged long4 ,res nolunt diu male administrari4 ,though no checks to a new evil appear1 the checks exist1 and will appear4 ,if the government is cruel1 the governor's life is not safe4 ,if you tax too high1 the revenue will yield nothing4 ,if you make the criminal code sanguinary1 juries will not convict4 ,nothing arbitrary1 nothing artificial can endure4 ,the true life and satisfactions of man seem to elude the utmost rigors or felicities of condition1 and to establish themselves with great indifferency under all varieties of circumstance4 ,under all governments the influence of character remains the same1--in ,turkey and ,new ,england about alike4 ,under the primeval despots of ,egypt1 history honestly confesses that man must have been as free as culture could make him4 ,these appearances indicate the fact that the universe is represented in every one of its particles4 ,every thing in nature contains all the powers of nature4 ,every thing is made of one hidden stuff2 as the naturalist sees one type under every metamorphosis1 and regards a horse as a running man1 a fish as a swimming man1 a bird as a flying man1 a tree as a rooted man4 ,each new form repeats not only the main character of the type1 but part for part all the details1 all the aims1 furtherances1 hindrances1 energies and whole system of every other4 ,every occupation1 trade1 art1 transaction1 is a compend of the world and a correlative of every other4 ,each one is an entire emblem of human life2 of its good and ill1 its trials1 its enemies1 its course and its end4 ,and each one must somehow accommodate the whole man and recite all his destiny4 ,the world globes itself in a drop of dew4 ,the microscope cannot find the animalcule which is less perfect for being little4 ,eyes1 ears1 taste1 smell1 motion1 resistance1 appetite1 and organs of reproduction that take hold on eternity1--all find room to consist in the small creature4 ,so do we put our life into every act4 ,the true doctrine of omnipresence is that ,god reappears with all his parts in every moss and cobweb4 ,the value of the universe contrives to throw itself into every point4 ,if the good is there1 so is the evil2 if the affinity1 so the repulsion2 if the force1 so the limitation4 ,thus is the universe alive4 ,all things are moral4 ,that soul which within us is a sentiment1 outside of us is a law4 ,we feel its inspirations2 out there in history we can see its fatal strength4 ,it is almighty4 ,all nature feels its grasp4 8,it is in the world1 and the world was made by it40 ,it is eternal1 but it enacts itself in time and space4 ,justice is not postponed4 ,a perfect equity adjusts its balance in all parts of life4 8,the dice of ,god are always ready to fall40 ,the dice of ,god are always loaded4 ,the world looks like a multiplication-table1 or a mathematical equation1 which1 turn it how you will1 balances itself4 ,take what figure you will1 its exact value1 nor more nor less1 still returns to you4 ,every secret is told1 every crime is punished1 every virtue rewarded1 every wrong redressed1 in silence and certainty4 ,what we call retribution is the universal necessity by which the whole appears wherever a part appears4 ,if you see smoke1 there must be fire4 ,if you see a hand or a limb1 you know that the trunk to which it belongs is there behind4 ,every act rewards itself1 or in other words1 integrates itself1 in a twofold manner3 first1 in the thing1 or in real nature2 and secondly1 in the circumstance1 or in apparent nature4 ,men call the circumstance the retribution4 ,the causal retribution is in the thing and is seen by the soul4 ,the retribution in the circumstance is seen by the understanding2 it is inseparable from the thing1 but is often spread over a long time and so does not become distinct until after many years4 ,the specific stripes may follow late after the offence1 but they follow because they accompany it4 ,crime and punishment grow out of one stem4 ,punishment is a fruit that1 unsuspected1 ripens within the flower of the pleasure which concealed it4 ,cause and effect1 means and ends1 seed and fruit1 cannot be severed2 for the effect already blooms in the cause1 the end pre-exists in the means1 the fruit in the seed4 ,whilst thus the world will be whole and refuses to be disparted1 we seek to act partially1 to sunder1 to appropriate2 for example1--to gratify the senses we sever the pleasure of the senses from the needs of the character4 ,the ingenuity of man has been dedicated to the solution of one problem1--how to detach the sensual sweet1 the sensual strong1 the sensual bright1 etc41 from the moral sweet1 the moral deep1 the moral fair2 that is1 again1 to contrive to cut clean off this upper surface so thin as to leave it bottomless2 to get a one end1 without an other end4 ,the soul says1 ,eat2 the body would feast4 ,the soul says1 ,the man and woman shall be one flesh and one soul2 the body would join the flesh only4 ,the soul says1 ,have dominion over all things to the ends of virtue2 the body would have the power over things to its own ends4 ,the soul strives amain to live and work through all things4 ,it would be the only fact4 ,all things shall be added unto it1--power1 pleasure1 knowledge1 beauty4 ,the particular man aims to be somebody2 to set up for himself2 to truck and higgle for a private good2 and1 in particulars1 to ride that he may ride2 to dress that he may be dressed2 to eat that he may eat2 and to govern1 that he may be seen4 ,men seek to be great2 they would have offices1 wealth1 power1 and fame4 ,they think that to be great is to get only one side of nature1--the sweet1 without the other side1--the bitter4 ,steadily is this dividing and detaching counteracted4 ,up to this day it must be owned no projector has had the smallest success4 ,the parted water re-unites behind our hand4 ,pleasure is taken out of pleasant things1 profit out of profitable things1 power out of strong things1 the moment we seek to separate them from the whole4 ,we can no more halve things and get the sensual good1 by itself1 than we can get an inside that shall have no outside1 or a light without a shadow4 8,drive out nature with a fork1 she comes running back40 ,life invests itself with inevitable conditions1 which the unwise seek to dodge1 which one and another brags that he does not know1 brags that they do not touch him2--but the brag is on his lips1 the conditions are in his soul4 ,if he escapes them in one part they attack him in another more vital part4 ,if he has escaped them in form and in the appearance1 it is because he has resisted his life and fled from himself1 and the retribution is so much death4 ,so signal is the failure of all attempts to make this separation of the good from the tax1 that the experiment would not be tried1--since to try it is to be mad1--but for the circumstance that when the disease began in the will1 of rebellion and separation1 the intellect is at once infected1 so that the man ceases to see ,god whole in each object1 but is able to see the sensual allurement of an object and not see the sensual hurt2 he sees the mermaid's head but not the dragon's tail1 and thinks he can cut off that which he would have from that which he would not have4 8,how secret art thou who dwellest in the highest heavens in silence1 ,o thou only great ,god1 sprinkling with an unwearied providence certain penal blindnesses upon such as have unbridled desires60 ,the human soul is true to these facts in the painting of fable1 of history1 of law1 of proverbs1 of conversation4 ,it finds a tongue in literature unawares4 ,thus the ,greeks called ,jupiter1 ,supreme ,mind2 but having traditionally ascribed to him many base actions1 they involuntarily made amends to ,reason by tying up the hands of so bad a god4 ,he is made as helpless as a king of ,england4 ,prometheus knows one secret which ,jove must bargain for2 ,minerva1 another4 ,he cannot get his own thunders2 ,minerva keeps the key of them3 8,of all the gods1 ,i only know the keys ,that ope the solid doors within whose vaults ,his thunders sleep40 ,a plain confession of the in-working of the ,all1 and of its moral aim4 ,the ,indian mythology ends in the same ethics2 and indeed it would seem impossible for any fable to be invented and get any currency which was not moral4 ,aurora forgot to ask youth for her lover1 and though so ,tithonus is immortal1 he is old4 ,achilles is not quite invulnerable2 for ,thetis held him by the heel when she dipped him in the ,styx1 and the sacred waters did not wash that part4 ,siegfried1 in the ,nibelungen1 is not quite immortal1 for a leaf fell on his back whilst he was bathing in the ,dragon's blood1 and that spot which it covered is mortal4 ,and so it always is4 ,there is a crack in every thing ,god has made4 ,always it would seem there is this vindictive circumstance stealing in at unawares even into the wild poesy in which the human fancy attempted to make bold holiday and to shake itself free of the old laws1--this back-stroke1 this kick of the gun1 certifying that the law is fatal2 that in nature nothing can be given1 all things are sold4 ,this is that ancient doctrine of ,nemesis1 who keeps watch in the ,universe1 and lets no offence go unchastised4 ,the ,furies1 they said1 are attendants on ,justice1 and if the sun in heaven should transgress his path1 they would punish him4 ,the poets related that stone walls and iron swords and leathern thongs had an occult sympathy with the wrongs of their owners2 that the belt which ,ajax gave ,hector dragged the ,trojan hero over the field at the wheels of the car of ,achilles1 and the sword which ,hector gave ,ajax was that on whose point ,ajax fell4 ,they recorded that when the ,thasians erected a statue to ,theogenes1 a victor in the games1 one of his rivals went to it by night and endeavored to throw it down by repeated blows1 until at last he moved it from its pedestal and was crushed to death beneath its fall4 ,this voice of fable has in it somewhat divine4 ,it came from thought above the will of the writer4 ,that is the best part of each writer which has nothing private in it2 that is the best part of each which he does not know2 that which flowed out of his constitution and not from his too-active invention2 that which in the study of a single artist you might not easily find1 but in the study of many you would abstract as the spirit of them all4 ,phidias it is not1 but the work of man in that early ,hellenic world that ,i would know4 ,the name and circumstance of ,phidias1 however convenient for history1 embarasses when we come to the highest criticism4 ,we are to see that which man was tending to do in a given period1 and was hindered1 or1 if you will1 modified in doing1 by the interfering volitions of ,phidias1 of ,dante1 of ,shakespeare1 the organ whereby man at the moment wrought4 ,still more striking is the expression of this fact in the proverbs of all nations1 which are always the literature of ,reason1 or the statements of an absolute truth without qualification4 ,proverbs1 like the sacred books of each nation1 are the sanctuary of the ,intuitions4 ,that which the droning world1 chained to appearances1 will not allow the realist to say in his own words1 it will suffer him to say in proverbs1 without contradiction4 ,and this law of laws1 which the pulpit1 the senate and the college deny1 is hourly preached in all markets and all languages by flights of proverbs1 whose teaching is as true and as omnipresent as that of birds and flies4 ,all things are double1 one against another4--,tit for tat2 an eye for an eye2 a tooth for a tooth2 blood for blood2 measure for measure2 love for love4--,give1 and it shall be given you4--,he that watereth shall be watered himself4--,what will you have8 quoth ,god2 pay for it and take it4--,nothing venture1 nothing have4--,thou shalt be paid exactly for what thou hast done1 no more1 no less4--,who doth not work shall not eat4--,harm watch1 harm catch4--,curses always recoil on the head of him who imprecates them4--,if you put a chain around the neck of a slave1 the other end fastens itself around your own4--,bad counsel confounds the adviser4--,the devil is an ass4 ,it is thus written1 because it is thus in life4 ,our action is overmastered and characterized above our will by the law of nature4 ,we aim at a petty end quite aside from the public good1 but our act arranges itself by irresistible magnetism in a line with the poles of the world4 ,a man cannot speak but he judges himself4 ,with his will1 or against his will1 he draws his portrait to the eye of his companions by every word4 ,every opinion reacts on him who utters it4 ,it is a thread-ball thrown at a mark1 but the other end remains in the thrower's bag4 ,or1 rather1 it is a harpoon thrown at the whale1 unwinding1 as it flies1 a coil of cord in the boat1 and1 if the harpoon is not good1 or not well thrown1 it will go nigh to cut the steersman in twain or to sink the boat4 ,you cannot do wrong without suffering wrong4 8,no man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him10 said ,burke4 ,the exclusive in fashionable life does not see that he excludes himself from enjoyment1 in the attempt to appropriate it4 ,the exclusionist in religion does not see that he shuts the door of heaven on himself1 in striving to shut out others4 ,treat men as pawns and ninepins1 and you shall suffer as well as they4 ,if you leave out their heart1 you shall lose your own4 ,the senses would make things of all persons2 of women1 of children1 of the poor4 ,the vulgar proverb1 8,i will get it from his purse or get it from his skin10 is sound philosophy4 ,all infractions of love and equity in our social relations are speedily punished4 ,they are punished by ,fear4 ,whilst ,i stand in simple relations to my fellow-man1 ,i have no displeasure in meeting him4 ,we meet as water meets water1 or as two currents of air mix1 with perfect diffusion and inter-penetration of nature4 ,but as soon as there is any departure from simplicity and attempt at halfness1 or good for me that is not good for him1 my neighbor feels the wrong2 he shrinks from me as far as ,i have shrunk from him2 his eyes no longer seek mine2 there is war between us2 there is hate in him and fear in me4 ,all the old abuses in society1 the great and universal and the petty and particular1 all unjust accumulations of property and power1 are avenged in the same manner4 ,fear is an instructor of great sagacity1 and the herald of all revolutions4 ,one thing he always teaches3 that there is rottenness where he appears4 ,he is a carrion crow1 and though you see not well what he hovers for1 there is death somewhere4 ,our property is timid1 our laws are timid1 our cultivated classes are timid4 ,fear for ages has boded and mowed and gibbered over government and property4 ,that obscene bird is not there for nothing4 ,he indicates great wrongs which must be revised4 ,of the like nature is that expectation of change which instantly follows the suspension of our voluntary activity4 ,the terror of cloudless noon1 the emerald of ,polycrates1 the awe of prosperity1 the instinct which leads every generous soul to impose on itself tasks of a noble asceticism and vicarious virtue1 are the tremblings of the balance of justice through the heart and mind of man4 ,experienced men of the world know very well that it is best to pay scot and lot as they go along1 and that a man often pays dear for a small frugality4 ,the borrower runs in his own debt4 ,has a man gained anything who has received a hundred favors and rendered none8 ,has he gained by borrowing1 through indolence or cunning1 his neighbor's wares1 or horses1 or money8 ,there arises on the deed the instant acknowledgment of benefit on the one part and of debt on the other2 that is1 of superiority and inferiority4 ,the transaction remains in the memory of himself and his neighbor2 and every new transaction alters according to its nature their relation to each other4 ,he may soon come to see that he had better have broken his own bones than to have ridden in his neighbor's coach1 and that 8the highest price he can pay for a thing is to ask for it40 ,a wise man will extend this lesson to all parts of life1 and know that it is always the part of prudence to face every claimant1 and pay every just demand on your time1 your talents1 or your heart4 ,always pay2 for1 first or last1 you must pay your entire debt4 ,persons and events may stand for a time between you and justice1 but it is only a postponement4 ,you must pay at last your own debt4 ,if you are wise1 you will dread a prosperity which only loads you with more4 ,benefit is the end of nature4 ,but for every benefit which you receive1 a tax is levied4 ,he is great who confers the most benefits4 ,he is base--and that is the one base thing in the universe--to receive favors and render none4 ,in the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them1 or only seldom4 ,but the benefit we receive must be rendered again1 line for line1 deed for deed1 cent for cent1 to somebody4 ,beware of too much good staying in your hand4 ,it will fast corrupt and worm worms4 ,pay it away quickly in some sort4 ,labor is watched over by the same pitiless laws4 ,cheapest1 say the prudent1 is the dearest labor4 ,what we buy in a broom1 a mat1 a wagon1 a knife1 is some application of good sense to a common want4 ,it is best to pay in your land a skilful gardener1 or to buy good sense applied to gardening2 in your sailor1 good sense applied to navigation2 in the house1 good sense applied to cooking1 sewing1 serving2 in your agent1 good sense applied to accounts and affairs4 ,so do you multiply your presence1 or spread yourself throughout your estate4 ,but because of the dual constitution of things1 in labor as in life there can be no cheating4 ,the thief steals from himself4 ,the swindler swindles himself4 ,for the real price of labor is knowledge and virtue1 whereof wealth and credit are signs4 ,these signs1 like paper money1 may be counterfeited or stolen1 but that which they represent1 namely1 knowledge and virtue1 cannot be counterfeited or stolen4 ,these ends of labor cannot be answered but by real exertions of the mind1 and in obedience to pure motives4 ,the cheat1 the defaulter1 the gambler1 cannot extort the benefit1 cannot extort the knowledge of material and moral nature which his honest care and pains yield to the operative4 ,the law of nature is1 ,do the thing1 and you shall have the power2 but they who do not the thing have not the power4 ,human labor1 through all its forms1 from the sharpening of a stake to the construction of a city or an epic1 is one immense illustration of the perfect compensation of the universe4 ,everywhere and always this law is sublime4 ,the absolute balance of ,give and ,take1 the doctrine that every thing has its price1 and if that price is not paid1 not that thing1 but something else1 is obtained1 and that it is impossible to get anything without its price1 is not less sublime in the columns of a ledger than in the budgets of states1 in the laws of light and darkness1 in all the action and reaction of nature4 ,i cannot doubt that the high laws which each man sees ever implicated in those processes with which he is conversant1 the stern ethics which sparkle on his chisel-edge1 which are measured out by his plumb and foot-rule1 which stand as manifest in the footing of the shop-bill as in the history of a state1--do recommend to him his trade1 and though seldom named1 exalt his business to his imagination4 ,the league between virtue and nature engages all things to assume a hostile front to vice4 ,the beautiful laws and substances of the world persecute and whip the traitor4 ,he finds that things are arranged for truth and benefit1 but there is no den in the wide world to hide a rogue4 ,commit a crime1 and the earth is made of glass4 ,there is no such thing as concealment4 ,commit a crime1 and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground1 such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge and fox and squirrel and mole4 ,you cannot recall the spoken word1 you cannot wipe out the foot-track1 you cannot draw up the ladder1 so as to leave no inlet or clew4 ,always some damning circumstance transpires4 ,the laws and substances of nature1 water1 snow1 wind1 gravitation1 become penalties to the thief4 ,on the other hand1 the law holds with equal sureness for all right action4 ,love1 and you shall be loved4 ,all love is mathematically just1 as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation4 ,the good man has absolute good1 which1 like fire1 turns every thing to its own nature1 so that you cannot do him any harm2 but as the royal armies sent against ,napoleon1 when he approached1 cast down their colors1 and from enemies became friends1 so do disasters of all kinds1 as sickness1 offence1 poverty1 prove benefactors4 8,winds blow and waters roll ,strength to the brave and power and deity1 ,yet in themselves are nothing40 ,the good are befriended even by weakness and defect4 ,as no man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him1 so no man had ever a defect that was not somewhere made useful to him4 ,the stag in the fable admired his horns and blamed his feet1 but when the hunter came1 his feet saved him1 and afterwards1 caught in the thicket1 his horns destroyed him4 ,every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults4 ,as no man thoroughly understands a truth until first he has contended against it1 so no man has a thorough acquaintance with the hindrances or talents of men until he has suffered from the one and seen the triumph of the other over his own want of the same4 ,has he a defect of temper that unfits him to live in society8 ,thereby he is driven to entertain himself alone and acquire habits of self-help2 and thus1 like the wounded oyster1 he mends his shell with pearl4 ,our strength grows out of our weakness4 ,not until we are pricked and stung and sorely shot at1 awakens the indignation which arms itself with secret forces4 ,a great man is always willing to be little4 ,whilst he sits on the cushion of advantages1 he goes to sleep4 ,when he is pushed1 tormented1 defeated1 he has a chance to learn something2 he has been put on his wits1 on his manhood2 he has gained facts2 learns his ignorance2 is cured of the insanity of conceit2 has got moderation and real skill4 ,the wise man always throws himself on the side of his assailants4 ,it is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point4 ,the wound cicatrizes and falls off from him like a dead skin1 and when they would triumph1 lo6 he has passed on invulnerable4 ,blame is safer than praise4 ,i hate to be defended in a newspaper4 ,as long as all that is said1 is said against me1 ,i feel a certain assurance of success4 ,but as soon as honied words of praise are spoken for me1 ,i feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies4 ,in general1 every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor4 ,as the ,sandwich ,islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself1 so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist4 ,the same guards which protect us from disaster1 defect and enmity1 defend us1 if we will1 from selfishness and fraud4 ,bolts and bars are not the best of our institutions1 nor is shrewdness in trade a mark of wisdom4 ,men suffer all their life long under the foolish superstition that they can be cheated4 ,but it is as impossible for a man to be cheated by any one but himself1 as for a thing to be and not to be at the same time4 ,there is a third silent party to all our bargains4 ,the nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of the fulfilment of every contract1 so that honest service cannot come to loss4 ,if you serve an ungrateful master1 serve him the more4 ,put ,god in your debt4 ,every stroke shall be repaid4 ,the longer the payment is withholden1 the better for you2 for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer4 ,the history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature1 to make water run up hill1 to twist a rope of sand4 ,it makes no difference whether the actors be many or one1 a tyrant or a mob4 ,a mob is a society of bodies voluntarily bereaving themselves of reason and traversing its work4 ,the mob is man voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast4 ,its fit hour of activity is night4 ,its actions are insane1 like its whole constitution4 ,it persecutes a principle2 it would whip a right2 it would tar and feather justice1 by inflicting fire and outrage upon the houses and persons of those who have these4 ,it resembles the prank of boys1 who run with fire-engines to put out the ruddy aurora streaming to the stars4 ,the inviolate spirit turns their spite against the wrongdoers4 ,the martyr cannot be dishonored4 ,every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame2 every prison a more illustrious abode2 every burned book or house enlightens the world2 every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side4 ,the minds of men are at last aroused2 reason looks out and justifies her own1 and malice finds all her work in vain4 ,it is the whipper who is whipped1 and the tyrant who is undone4 ,thus do all things preach the indifferency of circumstances4 ,the man is all4 ,every thing has two sides1 a good and an evil4 ,every advantage has its tax4 ,i learn to be content4 ,but the doctrine of compensation is not the doctrine of indifferency4 ,the thoughtless say1 on hearing these representations3 8,what boots it to do well8 there is one event to good and evil2 if ,i gain any good1 ,i must pay for it2 if ,i lose any good1 ,i gain some other2 all actions are indifferent40 ,there is a deeper fact in the soul than compensation1 to wit3 its own nature4 ,the soul is not a compensation1 but a life4 ,the soul is4 ,under all this running sea of circumstance1 whose waters ebb and flow with perfect balance1 lies the aboriginal abyss of real ,being4 ,existence1 or ,god1 is not a relation or a part1 but the whole4 ,being is the vast affirmative1 excluding negation1 self-balanced1 and swallowing up all relations1 parts and times within itself4 ,nature1 truth1 virtue1 are the influx from thence4 ,vice is the absence or departure of the same4 ,nothing1 ,falsehood1 may indeed stand as the great ,night or shade on which1 as a background1 the living universe paints itself forth2 but no fact is begotten by it2 it cannot work1 for it is not4 ,it cannot work any good2 it cannot work any harm4 ,it is harm1 inasmuch as it is worse not to be than to be4 ,we feel defrauded of the retribution due to evil acts1 because the criminal adheres to his vice and contumacy1 and does not come to a crisis or judgment anywhere in visible nature4 ,there is no stunning confutation of his nonsense before men and angels4 ,has he1 therefore1 outwitted the law8 ,inasmuch as he carries the malignity and the lie with him1 he so far deceases from nature4 ,in some manner there will be a demonstration of the wrong to the understanding also2 but1 should we not see it1 this deadly deduction makes square the eternal account4 ,neither can it be said1 on the other hand1 that the gain of rectitude must be bought by any loss4 ,there is no penalty to virtue2 no penalty to wisdom2 they are proper additions of being4 ,in a virtuous action1 ,i properly am2 in a virtuous act1 ,i add to the world2 ,i plant into deserts conquered from ,chaos and ,nothing1 and see the darkness receding on the limits of the horizon4 ,there can be no excess to love1 none to knowledge1 none to beauty1 when these attributes are considered in the purest sense4 ,the soul refuses all limits4 ,it affirms in man always an ,optimism1 never a ,pessimism4 ,his life is a progress1 and not a station4 ,his instinct is trust4 ,our instinct uses 8more0 and 8less0 in application to man1 always of the presence of the soul1 and not of its absence2 the brave man is greater than the coward2 the true1 the benevolent1 the wise1 is more a man1 and not less1 than the fool and knave4 ,there is1 therefore1 no tax on the good of virtue1 for that is the incoming of ,god himself1 or absolute existence1 without any comparative4 ,all external good has its tax1 and if it came without desert or sweat1 has no root in me1 and the next wind will blow it away4 ,but all the good of nature is the soul's1 and may be had if paid for in nature's lawful coin1 that is1 by labor which the heart and the head allow4 ,i no longer wish to meet a good ,i do not earn2 for example1 to find a pot of buried gold1 knowing that it brings with it new responsibility4 ,i do not wish more external goods1--neither possessions1 nor honors1 nor powers1 nor persons4 ,the gain is apparent2 the tax is certain4 ,but there is no tax on the knowledge that the compensation exists1 and that it is not desirable to dig up treasure4 ,herein ,i rejoice with a serene eternal peace4 ,i contract the boundaries of possible mischief4 ,i learn the wisdom of ,st4 ,bernard3 8,nothing can work me damage except myself2 the harm that ,i sustain1 ,i carry about with me1 and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault40 ,in the nature of the soul is the compensation for the inequalities of condition4 ,the radical tragedy of nature seems to be the distinction of ,more and ,less4 ,how can ,less not feel the pain2 how not feel indignation or malevolence towards ,more8 ,look at those who have less faculty1 and one feels sad1 and knows not well what to make of it4 ,almost he shuns their eye2 he fears they will upbraid ,god4 ,what should they do8 ,it seems a great injustice4 ,but see the facts nearly1 and these mountainous inequalities vanish4 ,love reduces them as the sun melts the iceberg in the sea4 ,the heart and soul of all men being one1 this bitterness of ,his and ,mine ceases4 ,his is mine4 ,i am my brother and my brother is me4 ,if ,i feel overshadowed and outdone by great neighbors1 ,i can yet love2 ,i can still receive2 and he that loveth1 maketh his own the grandeur he loves4 ,thereby ,i make the discovery that my brother is my guardian1 acting for me with the friendliest designs1 and the estate ,i so admired and envied is my own4 ,it is the eternal nature of the soul to appropriate and make all things its own4 ,jesus and ,shakespeare are fragments of the soul1 and by love ,i conquer and incorporate them in my own conscious domain4 ,his virtue1--is not that mine8 ,his wit1--if it cannot be made mine1 it is not wit4 ,such1 also1 is the natural history of calamity4 ,the changes1 which break up at short intervals the prosperity of men1 are advertisements of a nature whose law is growth4 ,evermore it is the order of nature to grow2 and every soul is1 by this intrinsic necessity1 quitting its whole system of things1 its friends and home and laws and faith1 as the shell-fish crawls out of its beautiful but stony case1 because it no longer admits of its growth1 and slowly forms a new house4 ,in proportion to the vigor of the individual1 these revolutions are frequent1 until in some happier mind they are incessant1 and all worldly relations hang very loosely about him1 becoming1 as it were1 a transparent fluid membrane1 through which the living form is always seen1 and not1 as in most men1 an indurated heterogeneous fabric of many dates and of no settled character1 in which the man is imprisoned4 ,then there can be enlargement1 and the man of to-day scarcely recognizes the man of yesterday4 ,and such should be the outward biography of man in time1 a putting off of dead circumstances day by day1 as he renews his raiment day by day4 ,but to us1 in our lapsed estate1 resting1 not advancing1 resisting1 not co-operating with the divine expansion1 this growth comes by shocks4 ,we cannot part with our friends4 ,we cannot let our angels go4 ,we do not see that they only go out that archangels may come in4 ,we are idolators of the old4 ,we do not believe in the riches of the soul1 in its proper eternity and omnipresence4 ,we do not believe there is any force in to-day to rival or re-create that beautiful yesterday4 ,we linger in the ruins of the old tent where once we had bread and shelter and organs1 nor believe that the spirit can feed1 cover1 and nerve us again4 ,we cannot again find aught so dear1 so sweet1 so graceful4 ,but we sit and weep in vain4 ,the voice of the ,almighty saith1 8,up and onward forevermore60 ,we cannot stay amid the ruins4 ,neither will we rely on the ,new2 and so we walk ever with reverted eyes1 like those monsters who look backwards4 ,and yet the compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also1 after long intervals of time4 ,a fever1 a mutilation1 a cruel disappointment1 a loss of wealth1 a loss of friends1 seems at the moment unpaid loss1 and unpayable4 ,but the sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all facts4 ,the death of a dear friend1 wife1 brother1 lover1 which seemed nothing but privation1 somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius2 for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life1 terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed1 breaks up a wonted occupation1 or a household1 or style of living1 and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character4 ,it permits or constrains the formation of new acquaintances and the reception of new influences that prove of the first importance to the next years2 and the man or woman who would have remained a sunny garden-flower1 with no room for its roots and too much sunshine for its head1 by the falling of the walls and the neglect of the gardener1 is made the banian of the forest1 yielding shade and fruit to wide neighborhoods of men4 ,,here ,,endeth ,,the ,,ennobling ,,essay ,,on ,,compensation1 ,,as ,,written ,,by ,,ralph ,,waldo ,,emerson1 ,,borders ,,and ,,initials ,,designed ,,by ,,roycroft ,,artists1 ,,and ,,the ,,whole ,,done ,,into ,a ,,printed ,,book ,,by ,,the ,,roycrofters1 ,,at ,,their ,,shop ,,which ,,is ,,in ,,east ,,aurora1 ,,new ,,york1 ,u4,s4,a41 ,,in ,,january1 ,,anno ,,christi1 ,,mcmiv ,illustration3 ,,roycroft ,transcriber's ,notes ,punctuation1 hyphenation1 and spelling were not changed4 ,decorative borders and illustrated drop-caps at the beginning of the two chapters are not indicated in the ,plain ,text version of this ebook4 ,the purpose of the pilcrows 77 in this book was unclear1 so1 rather than treating them as indicating new paragraphs1 they have been left in the same places as in the original book4