How well this person expresses himself, how convincingly, is remarked every day of some writer or speaker. Why his skill, facility, success? There are various reasons, of course. A fundamental one is this: he believes in his audience, he claims no superiority for himself, he knows that the thoughts and aspirations of every reader and listener may range at least as high as his. In other words, he never talks or writes down to his people. No one who regards his audience as immature or unappreciative can do justice to his subject or to himself. A sense of undue importance disqualifies one at the outset for doing his best in any enterprise. Pride has ever been the forerunner of downfall. "Before honour is humility," runs the proverb.
Everybody who has done anything of enduring magnitude in this world, everybody who has permanently promoted human welfare, has had a generous appreciation of his fellow men regardless of their station in life. He has had confidence in them. They have felt this spiritual comradeship. They have responded to it and thereby been inspirited to do more than they otherwise would have done.
If one cannot esteem and love those whom he meets everywhere and every day, "how can he," as John interrogates, "love God whom he hath not seen"? We are quick to denounce caste, haughtiness, and class privilege, but it is possible for individuals to indulge those overbearing tendencies while shouting democracy and brotherhood from the housetops.
