The indirect is just as much as the direct,
The spirit receives from the body just as much as
it gives to the
body, if not more.
Not one word or deed, not venereal sore, discoloration,
privacy of
the onanist,
Putridity of gluttons or rum-drinkers, peculation,
cunning,
betrayal, murder, seduction,
prostitution,
But has results beyond death as really as before death.
Charity and personal force are the only investments worth any thing.
No specification is necessary, all that a male or
female does, that
is vigorous, benevolent, clean,
is so much profit to him or her,
In the unshakable order of the universe and through
the whole scope
of it forever.
Who has been wise receives interest,
Savage, felon, President, judge, farmer, sailor, mechanic,
literat,
young, old, it is the same,
The interest will come round—all will come
round.
Singly, wholly, to affect now, affected their time,
will forever affect,
all of the past and all of
the present and all of the future,
All the brave actions of war and peace,
All help given to relatives, strangers, the poor,
old, sorrowful,
young children, widows, the
sick, and to shunn’d persons,
All self-denial that stood steady and aloof on wrecks,
and saw
others fill the seats of the
boats,
All offering of substance or life for the good old
cause, or for a
friend’s sake, or opinion’s
sake,
All pains of enthusiasts scoff’d at by their
neighbors,
All the limitless sweet love and precious suffering
of mothers,
All honest men baffled in strifes recorded or unrecorded,
All the grandeur and good of ancient nations whose
fragments we inherit,
All the good of the dozens of ancient nations unknown
to us by name,
date, location,
All that was ever manfully begun, whether it succeeded
or no,
All suggestions of the divine mind of man or the divinity
of his
mouth, or the shaping of his
great hands,
All that is well thought or said this day on any part
of the globe,
or on any of the wandering
stars, or on any of the fix’d stars,
by those there as we are here,
All that is henceforth to be thought or done by you
whoever you are,
or by any one,
These inure, have inured, shall inure, to the identities
from which
they sprang, or shall spring.
Did you guess any thing lived only its moment?
The world does not so exist, no parts palpable or
impalpable so exist,
No consummation exists without being from some long
previous
consummation, and that from
some other,
Without the farthest conceivable one coming a bit
nearer the
beginning than any.
Whatever satisfies souls is true;
Prudence entirely satisfies the craving and glut of
souls,
Itself only finally satisfies the soul,
The soul has that measureless pride which revolts
from every lesson
but its own.


