AS OTHERS SEE US | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 15, 1902

AS OTHERS SEE US.

WHAT a man gives out, not what he keeps, determines his appearance in the eyes of the world. Beauty, brightness, color, consist not in what a thing keeps, but in what it gives out. A well-known law of optics teaches us that a thing is seen, not in the color which it takes in and keeps, but in that color which it gives back again. The thing that we call red is the one which is, in one sense, blue; that is, it takes in the blue rays and keeps them for itself, but gives back the red ones in color. Gold has kept all the green rays, and gives back the yellow ones, so we think it is yellow. The object which we call black takes in every ray of light, and keeps them for itself, and we have strikingly enough seen in it the symbol of all evil.

The object which we call white keeps nothing of the sun's rays, but gives them all out again, and we have seen in it the symbol of all good. So a man is seen and known, not by what he receives and keeps for himself, but by what he gives forth to others. The rich man who keeps everything for himself is seen and known to be a poor, mean man. The wise man who holds haughtily his learning to himself, will, in the judgment of men, be very apt to seem a proud fool.

"Measure thy life by loss, instead of gain; Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth; For life's strength standeth in life's sacrifice; And whoso gives the most has most to give." —Sunday-School Times.