He may indeed be, and he ought to be animated
by the consciousness of doing good, that best of all consolations, that
noblest of all motives. But that too must be often clouded by doubt and
uncertainty. Obscure and inglorious as his daily occupation may appear
to learned pride or worldly ambition, yet to be truly successful and
happy he must be animated by the spirit of the same great principles
which inspired the most illustrious benefactors of mankind. If he bring
to his task high talent and rich acquirement, he must be content to look
into distant years for the proof that his labors have not been wasted,
that the good seed which he daily scatters abroad does not fall on stony
ground and wither away, or among thorns to be choked by the cares, the
delusions, or the vices of the world. He must solace his toils with
the same prophetic faith that enabled the greatest of modern
philosophers,[39] amidst the neglect or contempt of his own times, to
regard himself as sowing the seeds of truth for posterity and the care
of Heaven. He must arm himself against disappointment and mortification
with a portion of that same noble confidence which soothed the greatest
of modern poets when weighed down by care and danger, by poverty, old
age, and blindness, still
"--In prophetic dreams he saw
The youth unborn with pious awe
Imbibe each virtue from his sacred page.
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