and instinct, it will dry up
long before it has availed to refresh barren places, and to cool thirsty
lips. And note also the preceding promises, 'theirs is the kingdom of
heaven'; 'they shall be comforted'; 'they shall inherit the earth; 'they
shall be filled.' These are experiences which, again, are another
collection of the head-waters of this stream.

That is to say, the true, lasting, reliable, conquering mercifulness has
a double source. The consciousness of our own weakness, the sadness that
creeps over the heart when it makes the discovery of its own sin, the
bowed submission primarily to the will of God, and secondarily to the
antagonisms which, in subservience to that will, we may meet in life,
and the yearning desire for a fuller righteousness and a more lustrous
purity in our own lives and characters--these are the experiences which
will make a man gentle in his judgment of his brother, and full of
melting charity in all his dealings with him. If I know how dark my own
nature is, how prone to uncommitted evils, how little I have to thank
myself for the virtues that I have practised, which are largely due to
my exemption from temptation and to my opportunities, and how little I
have in my own self that I can venture to bring to the stern judgment
which I am tempted to apply to other people, then the words of censure
will falter on my tongue, and the bitter construction of my brother's
conduct and character will be muffled in silence. 'Except as to open
outbreakings,' said one of the very saintliest of men, 'I want nothing
of what Judas and Cain had.' If we feel this, we shall ask ourselves,
'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?' and the condemnation
of others will stick in our throats when we try to utter it.

And, on the other hand, if I, through these paths of self-knowledge, and
lowly estimate of self, and penitent confession of sin, and flexibility
of will to God, and yearning, as for my highest food and good, after a
righteousness which I feel I do not possess, have come into the position
in which my poverty is, by His gift, made rich, and the tears are wiped
away from off my face by His gracious hand, and a full possession of
large blessings bestowed on my humble will, and the righteousness for
which I long imparted to me, shall I not have learned how divine a thing
it is to give to the unworthy, and so be impelled to communicate what I
have already received? 'Be ye therefore imitators of G