In "Louis Lambert" Balzac describes certain forces, when they take possession of strong personalities, as "rivers of will." There is an impetus in these potential men which sweeps away all obstacles and rolls on with the momentum of a great stream. In men of genius the same tireless activity, the same forceful habit, are often found; nothing daunts them; nothing subdues them.—Christian Union.
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The late Lord Beaconsfield, in an address before the Literary and Scientific Institute of London, in 1844, on his early life, gave utterance to these impressive words:
"Man can be what he pleases. Every one of you can be exactly what he designs to be. I have resolved to hold a certain position, and if I live, I will."
We do not know what that position was that Disraeli refers to, but we do know that he attained to the highest position possible to any man in England. He had much to contend with. He was of a Jewish family, but by the remarkable power of his will he ejected the Jew blood from his veins and pumped the blue blood of England in. He climbed into the seat next to the throne of the queen herself.
In contrast what a small conception
some men have of their opportunities
and privileges.
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People will insist on living, sometimes, tho manifestly moribund. In Dr. Elder's life of Kane, you will find a case of this sort, told by Dr. Kane himself. The captain of a ship was dying of scurvy, but the crew mutinied, and he gave up dying for the present to take care of them. An old lady in this city, near her end, got a little vexed about a proposed change in her will; made up her mind not to die just then; ordered a coach; was driven twenty miles to the house of a relative, and lived four years longer.—Oliver Wendell Holmes.
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See Greatness; Mind, the Human.
WILL, THE
God will not force the door of the human heart. The faculty of volition is a divinely-given prerogative, and our free will is not violated by any forcible means.
While the painting by William Holman-Hunt,
known as "The Light of the World,"
was yet in the studio of the painter a visitor
stood admiring it. Suddenly he asked the
artist, "Where is the key? I do not see one
in the door." Said Mr. Holman-Hunt, "Ah,
no; the key is inside, and the door is locked
not from without but from within. It can
only be opened to admit the Savior who
stands there and knocks if the tenant within
chooses to turn the key." The visitor understood
the parable. (Text.)
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See Mastery.
Winds as Benefactors—See Nature's Recuperative
Powers.
WINNING
Young man,
What is your plan
Of progress? Are you
Going to pull through?
Or will you lie down in the road
And let your load
Sink you out of sight in the mud?
Have you white blood and pale,
That curdles at the hard word "Fail,"
And dares not face
The chances of the race?
Or, have you red, clear red,
The good strong color
All the great have shed
In deed or thought,
For every triumph wrought
Out of what seemed full
Of the impossible?
Have you the nerve
To serve
Until you can master? To wait
And work outside the gate
Until you win
The strength to open it and enter in?
Have you the heart to meet
Defeat
Day after day,
And yet hold to the way
That upward leads,
And must needs
Be hard and rough
To make man tough
Of sinew and of soul,
Before he sees the goal?
Young man,
Think on these things,
What each one brings
