But the hieroglyphic may be read for our personal advantage too. It is very sigmficant—that degradation of Aaron's rod when it slipped from his grasp, how the hydra of anarchy instantly raised its head The power that Aaron wielded as a man of education and influence became a source of mischief and of terror when it got out of hand. And that is a fact of common experience which it will be worth tracing, that the very qualities that are intended.for human advantage may slip out of contro) and work for our undoing.
Take for example the fine faculty of ambition. A man" is endowed with st as a means for fulfilling a divine purpose, and see how serviceable and honourable it proves to be in such a leader as Gladstone or Gordon, to name no more. People accuse public men of being ambitious, But there is no sting in the charge so long as ambition 1s made subservient to the public good. The thirst for an enduring fame" said Gladstone (vol. 1. p, 634) is near akin to the love of true excellence." The trouble begins when it gets beyond man's control. Then you will find he is always working for some ulterior end, and the risk is that he will stick at nothing in order to gain his point. A character of this kind is explored and exposed by Hugh Walpole in the study of a canon in his latest book "The Cathedral." This is what he says of him in one chapter. "He could not remember a time when he had not been impelled to alter things for his comfort," and again in another part of the book "The temptation was always strong in him to manipulate the power "placed in his hands" How soon the rod of such a man becomes a rousing envy, suspicion of|and every kind of soreness in the Or take another illustration' of the perversion of faculty. A man's temper is also entrusted to him as a sign that he is God's steward, for without temper a man can achieve little in this world. The Times newspaper writing of British caricature some time ago said, "What it needs is more of the energy' of righteous indignation." A temper is the horse a man is given to rides it helps him storm the barricades of wrong, and break through its. defences. In the campaigns of God unmounted men are nut preferred. But alas! it is easy enough for temper toj escape from a man's control. It is enraged at the slightest provocation, thrown away on, the mean cause of vanity, and the man's true authority is gone. By the way there are few places under the sun where it is more necessary to keep this rod in the hand than in China.
Take again, the sphere of social relations, where some men are entrusted with the power of money as a symbol of stewardship like a rod of office. It has magnificent uses for the extension of the common good, the encouragement of art, of research, the maintenance of worship and philanthropy. Consider the value of. that generous foundation of a medical' institution in Peking or the disinterested gift of two big scholarships for British boys out here, who deserve more than their parents can afford. It gives dignity to the things of the mind, encouragement to the finer faculties of the young generation. Yes, it is true of people who aire high in position, rich in possessions, that they walk God's earth with rods in their hands.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.