But
there are those of whom the noisy world never hears, who have chosen
the better part which shall not be taken from them; who enter into a
higher glory than that of statesmen, or conquerors, or the successful
and famous of the earth. Many a man--clergyman or layman--struggling
in poverty and obscurity, with daily toil of body and mind, to make
his fellow-creatures better and happier; many a poor woman, bearing
children in pain and sorrow, and bringing them up with pain and
sorrow, but in industry, too, and piety; or submitting without
complaint to a brutal husband; or sacrificing all her own hopes in
life to feed and educate her brothers and sisters; or enduring for
years the peevishness and troublesomeness of some relation;--all
these (and the world which God sees is full of such, though the world
which man sees takes no note of them)--gentle souls, humble souls,
uncomplaining souls, suffering souls, pious souls--these are God's
elect; these are Christ's sheep; these are the salt of the earth,
who, by doing each their little duty as unto God, not unto men, keep
society from decaying more than do all the constitutions and acts of
parliament which statesmen ever invented. These are they--though
they little dream of any such honour--who copy the likeness of the
old martyrs, who did well and suffered for it; and the likeness of
Christ, of whom it was said, 'He shall not strive nor cry, neither
shall his voice be heard in the streets.
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