"LET NO MAN DESPISE THEE."
Does the injunction to Timothy and Titus respectively—"Let no man less despise thy youth," and "Let no man despise thee"—give any sanction to self-assertiveness? Let it not be thought so. Am I eccentric for the sake of eccentricity, or for the sake of attracting notoriety? Am I tenacious of my own rights, while sublimely indifferent to the rights of others? Do I try to pass myself off for better, wiser, richer, or nobler than I am? Then I deserve to be despised. But if, in the vindication of unpalatable truth, or in the steadfast and unostentatious discharge of duty, I encounter scorn, be scorn my portion. The sum of the matter seems to me to be this—While, on the one hand, I must be willing, for conscience' sake, to endure reproach, opposition, buffeting, and contempt, I must be equally concerned, on the other, to avoid every questionable act or thing that, with any show of reason, may cause me to be despised, and may thus materially mar my influence for good.
Herein does the poet of the "Night Thoughts" hit the mark—"Revere thyself, and yet thyself despise." Let self be "of no reputation," but, at the same time, do thou faithfully and prayerfully pursue intrinsic worth, and let not "a good name" be of no account in thy regard.
Thomson Sharp.
Egotism and self-assertion are unamiable traits.