I made
you read that verse which so shocked you just now, because the
relations of parent and child are typical of all beautiful human
help. A child may have to die for its parents; but the purpose of
Heaven is that it shall rather live for them;--that, not by its
sacrifice, but by its strength, its joy, its force of being, it
shall be to them renewal of strength; and as the arrow in the hand
of the giant. So it is in all other right relations. Men help each
other by their joy, not by their sorrow. They are not intended to
slay themselves for each other, but to strengthen themselves for
each other. And among the many apparently beautiful things which
turn, through mistaken use, to utter evil, I am not sure but that
the thoughtlessly meek and self-sacrificing spirit of good men
must be named as one of the fatalest. They have so often been
taught that there is a virtue in mere suffering, as such; and
foolishly to hope that good may be brought by Heaven out of all on
which Heaven itself has set the stamp of evil, that we may avoid
it,--that they accept pain and defeat as if these were their
appointed portion; never understanding that their defeat is not
the less to be mourned because it is more fatal to their enemies
than to them.
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