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Operations Management 6th Edition Reid Solutions Manual instant download

The document provides a solutions manual for the 6th edition of Operations Management by Reid, including sample size calculations for work system design and standard time calculations for various work elements. It includes links to download additional test banks and solution manuals for related subjects. The document also contains detailed examples and answers for calculating normal and standard times based on observed data and performance ratings.

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100% found this document useful (7 votes)
38 views

Operations Management 6th Edition Reid Solutions Manual instant download

The document provides a solutions manual for the 6th edition of Operations Management by Reid, including sample size calculations for work system design and standard time calculations for various work elements. It includes links to download additional test banks and solution manuals for related subjects. The document also contains detailed examples and answers for calculating normal and standard times based on observed data and performance ratings.

Uploaded by

yetteparghi16
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

Chapter 11: Work System Design

1. Given the following information, determine the sample size needed if the standard time
estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true mean 97 percent of the time.

Work Element Standard Deviation (minutes) Mean Observed Time (minutes)


1 0.20 1.10
2 0.10 0.80
3 0.15 0.90
4 0.10 1.00

Answer:
With z = 2.17 and a = 0.05, the number of observations needed for each work element is:
2
 2.17 0.20 
Work element 1: n    = 63
 0.05 1.10 
2
 2.17 0.10 
Work element 2: n    = 30
 0.05 0.80 
2
 2.17 0.15 
Work element 3: n    = 53
 0.05 0.90 
2
 2.17 0.10 
Work element 4: n    = 19
 0.05 1.00 

Sample size needed is 63.

2. Using the information in Problem 1, determine the sample size needed if the standard
time estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true mean 99 percent of the time.

Answer:
With z = 2.58 and a = 0.05, the number of observations needed for each work element is:
2
 2.58 0.20 
Work element 1: n    = 89
 0.05 1.10 
2
 2.58 0.10 
Work element 2: n    = 42
 0.05 0.80 
2
 2.58 0.15 
Work element 3: n    = 74
 0.05 0.90 
2
 2.58 0.10 
Work element 4: n    = 27
 0.05 1.00 

Sample size needed is 89.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-1


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

3. Using the following information, determine the sample size needed if the standard time
estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true mean 95 percent of the time.

Work Element Standard Deviation (minutes) Mean Observed Time (minutes)


1 0.60 2.40
2 0.20 1.50
3 1.10 3.85
4 0.85 2.55
5 0.40 1.60
6 0.50 2.50

Answer:
With z = 1.96 and a = 0.05, the number of observations needed for each work element is:
2
 1.96 0.60 
Work element 1: n    = 97
 0.05 2.40 
2
 1.96 0.20 
Work element 2: n    = 28
 0.05 1.50 
2
 1.96 1.10 
Work element 3: n    = 126
 0.05 3.85 
2
 1.96 0.85 
Work element 4: n    = 171
 0.05 2.55 
2
 1.96 0.40 
Work element 5: n    = 97
 0.05 1.60 
2
 1.96 0.50 
Work element 6: n    = 62
 0.05 2.50 

Sample size needed is 171.

4. Using the information in Problem 3, calculate the sample size needed if the standard time
estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true mean 99 percent of the time. Calculate the
percentage increase in sample size for the higher precision.

Answer:
With z = 2.58 and a = 0.05, the number of observations needed for each work element is:
2
 2.58 0.60 
Work element 1: n    = 167
 0.05 2.40 
2
 2.58 0.20 
Work element 2: n    = 48
 0.05 1.50 
2
 2.58 1.10 
Work element 3: n    = 218
 0.05 3.85 
2
 2.58 0.85 
Work element 4: n    = 296
 0.05 2.55 

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-2


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

2
 2.58 0.40 
Work element 5: n    = 167
 0.05 1.60 
2
 2.58 0.50 
Work element 6: n    = 107
 0.05 2.50 

Sample size needed is 296.


Percentage increase in sample size for the higher precision is 73.1%.

Use the following information from the Arkade Company for Problems 5–10.

Work Element Mean Observed Time Performance Rating


(minutes) Factor
1 1.20 0.95
2 1.00 0.85
3 0.80 1.10
4 0.90 1.10

5. Calculate the normal time for each of the work elements.

Answer:

Work Element Normal Time (NT)


1 (1.20)(0.95)(1) = 1.14
2 (1.00)(0.85)(1) = 0.85
3 (0.80)(1.10)(1) = 0.88
4 (0.90)(1.10)(1) = 0.99

6. The Arkade Company has decided to use a 15 percent allowance factor based on job time.
Calculate the standard time for each work element and for the total job.

Answer:
ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = 1 + PFD = 1 + 0.15 = 1.15

Work Element Standard Time (ST)


1 (1.14)(1.15) = 1.311
2 (0.85)(1.15) = 0.978
3 (0.88)(1.15) = 1.012
4 (0.99)(1.15) = 1.139

STjob = (1.311 + 0.978 + 1.012 + 1.139) = 4.440

7. Based on the standard time calculated in Problem 6, how many units should an employee
operating at 100 percent of standard complete during an eight-hour workday?

Answer:

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-3


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

From Problem 6, the sum of the standard times is 4.440 minutes.

Number of units/day = (1 unit/4.440 minutes) × (60 minutes/hour) × (8 hours/day)


= 108.1 units/day

8. The Arkade Company is considering switching to a 15 percent allowance based on time


worked. Calculate the new standard time for each work element and for the total job.

Answer:
1 1
ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = = = 1.176
1  PFD 1  0.15
Work Element Standard Time (ST)
1 (1.14)(1.176) = 1.341
2 (0.85)(1.176) = 1.000
3 (0.88)(1.176) = 1.035
4 (0.99)(1.176) = 1.164

STjob = (1.341 + 1.000 + 1.035 + 1.164) = 4.540 minutes

9. Based on the standard time calculated in Problem 8, how many units should an employee
operating at 100 percent of standard complete during an eight-hour workday?

Answer:
From Problem 8, the sum of the standard times is 4.540 minutes.

Number of units/day = (1 unit/4.540 minutes) × (60 minutes/hour) × (8 hours/day)


= 105.7 units/day

10. Compare the two standards calculated in Problems 6 and 8. What other factors should be
considered in selecting the method for determining the allowance factor?

Answer:
The standard time for the total job is greater when the 15 percent allowance factor is
based on time worked. Some of the factors that should be considered in selecting the
method for determining the allowance factor are the jobs similarities and whether they
have the same allowance factors. The allowance factor by time worked is better for jobs
with the same PFD allowances.

11. Jake’s Jumbo Jacks has collected the following information to develop a standard time for
building jumbo jacks.

Element (in minutes)


Observations 1 2 3 4 5
Cycle 1 2.18 1.25 1.70 2.74 1.57
Cycle 2 2.22 1.23 1.75 2.66 1.55

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-4


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

Cycle 3 2.20 1.29 1.72 2.60 1.57


Cycle 4 2.18 1.30 1.80 2.56 1.57
Cycle 5 2.21 1.26 1.84 2.58 1.59
Cycle 6 2.22 1.22 1.79 2.58 1.61
Cycle 7 2.17 1.26 1.78 2.60 1.57
Cycle 8 2.21 1.26 1.75 2.58 1.61
Cycle 9 2.18 1.30 1.80 2.60 1.55
Cycle 10 2.17 1.28 1.78 2.58 1.57
Rating factor 0.9 0.8 1.10 1.05 0.95
Frequency 1 1 1 1 1

a) Calculate the mean observed time for each element.


b) Calculate the normal time for each element.
c) Using an allowance factor of 20 percent of job time, calculate the standard time for
each element and for the entire job.
d) How many units should be completed each hour if the worker performs at 100 percent
of the standard?
e) How many units should be completed each hour if the worker performs at 90 percent
of the standard?

Answer:
a)
Element Mean Observed Time
1 2.194
2 1.265
3 1.771
4 2.608
5 1.576

b)
Element Normal Time (NT)
1 (2.194)(0.9)(1) = 1.975
2 (1.265)(0.8)(1) = 1.012
3 (1.771)(1.10)(1) = 1.948
4 (2.608)(1.05)(1) = 2.738
5 (1.576)(0.95)(1) = 1.497

c) ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = 1 + PFD = 1 + 0.20 = 1.20

Work Element Standard Time (ST)


1 (1.975)(1.20) = 2.370
2 (1.012)(1.20) = 1.214
3 (1.948)(1.20) = 2.338
4 (2.738)(1.20) = 3.286
5 (1.497)(1.20) = 1.796

STjob = (2.370 + 1.214 + 2.338 + 3.286 + 1.796) = 11.004 minutes

d) Number of units/hour = (60 minutes/hour)(1 unit/11.004 minutes)

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-5


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

= 5.45 units/hour

e) Number of units/hour = (5.45 units/hour)(0.90) = 4.9 units/hour

12. Frank’s Fabricators has collected the following information to develop a standard time for
producing their high-volume Navigator III, a universal remote control. All of the times
are in minutes.

Element
Observations 1 2 3 4 5 6
Cycle 1 1.10 3.00 0.92 1.23 1.46 1.80
Cycle 2 1.08 0.88 1.30 1.64 1.78
Cycle 3 1.15 3.20 0.85 1.26 1.55 1.76
Cycle 4 1.16 0.88 1.33 1.52 1.80
Cycle 5 1.07 3.10 0.90 1.28 1.62 1.82
Cycle 6 1.10 0.94 1.30 1.60 1.82
Rating factor 0.95 0.90 1.05 1.00 0.85 1.10
Frequency 1.00 0.50 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

a) Calculate the mean observed time for each element.


b) Calculate the normal time for each element.
c) Using an allowance factor of 15 percent of job time, calculate the standard time for
each element.
d) Calculate the standard time for completing one Navigator III.
e) If an employee is able to produce at a rate equal to the standard (100 percent
efficiency), how many units should she produce each hour?
f) If an employee is working at 90 percent efficiency, how many units should she
complete in one hour?
g) If a process improvement has changed the mean observed time for element 6 to 1.50
minutes, what is the new standard time for the Navigator III?
h) If the company builds 20,000 Navigator IIIs each month, how much less time does it
require using the new process?

Answer:
a)
Element Mean Observed Time
1 1.110
2 3.10
3 0.895
4 1.283
5 1.565
6 1.797

b)
Element Normal Time (NT)
1 (1.110)(0.95)(1) = 1.055
2 (3.10)(0.90)(0.5) = 1.395
3 (0.895)(1.05)(1) = 0.940

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-6


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

4 (1.283)(1.00)(1) = 1.283
5 (1.565)(0.85)(1) = 1.330
6 (1.797)(1.10)(1) = 1.976

c) ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = 1 + PFD = 1 + 0.15 = 1.15

Work Element Standard Time (ST)


1 (1.055)(1.15) = 1.213
2 (1.395)(1.15) = 1.604
3 (0.940)(1.15) = 1.081
4 (1.283)(1.15) = 1.476
5 (1.330)(1.15) = 1.530
6 (1.976)(1.15) = 2.273

d) STjob = (1.213 + 1.604 + 1.081 + 1.476 + 1.530 + 2.273) = 9.177 minutes

e) Number of units/hour = (60 minutes/hour)(1 unit/9.177 minutes)


= 6.54 units/hour

f) Number of units/hour = (6.54 units/hour)(0.90) = 5.88 units/hour

g) The standard time for element 6 becomes 1.8975 minutes. The new standard time for
the Navigator III is 8.80 minutes/unit.

h) Since 0.377 minutes/unit is saved when using the new process, the total time saved for
20,000 Navigator IIIs each month is equal to 0.377(20,000) = 7540 minutes or 125
hours.

13. The following information is provided to you for each of five elements performed in
building the Aviator model, a basic universal remote control.

Work Element Mean Observed Time Performance Frequency


(minutes) Rating Factor
1 0.96 0.96 1.0
2 1.45 1.10 1.0
3 3.33 1.00 0.33
4 1.24 0.90 1.0
5 1.18 1.05 1.0

a) Calculate the normal time for each element.


b) If the company uses a 15 percent allowance factor based on time worked, calculate
the standard time for each element.
c) Calculate the standard hourly output.
d) Calculate the expected hourly output at 90 percent of standard.

Answer:
a)
Element Normal Time (NT)

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-7


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

1 (0.96)(0.96)(1) = 0.9216
2 (3.10)(0.90)(0.5) = 1.595
3 (0.895)(1.05)(1) = 1.110
4 (1.283)(1.00)(1) = 1.116
5 (1.565)(0.85)(1) = 1.239

1 1
b) ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = = = 1.176
1  PFD 1  0.15

Work Element Standard Time (ST)


1 (0.9216)(1.176) = 1.084
2 (1.595)(1.176) = 1.876
3 (1.110)(1.176) = 1.292
4 (1.116)(1.176) = 1.313
5 (1.239)(1.176) = 1.458

STjob = (1.084 + 1.876 + 1.292 + 1.313 + 1.458) = 7.021 minutes

c) Standard hourly output = (60 minutes/hour)(1 unit/7.021 minutes)


= 8.546 units/hour

d) Expected hourly output = (8.546 units/hour)(0.90) = 7.69 units/hour

14. You have 25 observations of university policeman Sgt. Jack B. Nimble during his normal
workday. The results are shown here. Assume that the estimated proportion is to be
within 5 percent of the true proportion 95 percent of the time.

Activity Observed Number of Times


Observed
Doing paperwork 9
On the phone 3
Eating doughnuts 3
Cleaning weapon 4
Idle 2
Not in sight 4

a) Based on your preliminary observations, how many total observations do you need to
estimate the proportion of time Sgt. Nimble spends doing paperwork?
b) How many total observations do you need to estimate the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble spends on the phone?
c) How many total observations do you need to estimate the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble seems to be unavailable?

Answer:
a) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble spends doing paperwork is 0.36 (9 observed times/25 observations taken).

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-8


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

2
 1.96 
n=   (0.36)(1 – 0.36) = 355 observations
 0.05 

b) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble spends on the phone is 0.12 (3 observed times/25 observations taken).
2
 1.96 
n=   (0.12)(1 – 0.12) = 163 observations
 0.05 

c) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble seems to be unavailable is 0.16 (4 observed times/25 observations taken).
2
 1.96 
n=   (0.16)(1 – 0.16) = 207 observations
 0.05 

15. You are given the following information.

Element (in minutes)


Observations 1 2 3 4 5
Cycle 1 0.58 1.50 0.79 0.30
Cycle 2 0.61 0.75 0.35
Cycle 3 0.59 0.73 0.33
Cycle 4 0.54 0.72 0.35
Cycle 5 0.60 1.40 0.72 0.30 2.00
Cycle 6 0.57 0.71 0.32
Cycle 7 0.53 0.80 0.30
Cycle 8 0.59 0.78 0.28
Cycle 9 0.63 1.54 0.77 0.77
Cycle 10 0.58 0.79 0.33 2.20
Cycle 11 0.56 0.72 0.32
Cycle 12 0.55 0.79 0.34
Cycle 13 0.58 1.62 0.77 0.77
Cycle 14 0.60 0.80 0.33
Cycle 15 0.62 0.74 0.30 2.10
Rating factor 0.95 0.90 1.00 1.10 0.90
Frequency 1 0.25 1 1 0.20

a) Develop the mean observed time for each element.


b) Calculate the normal time for each element.
c) Using an allowance factor of 15 percent of job time, calculate the standard time for
each element and for the entire job.
d) How many units should be completed each hour if the worker performs at 100 percent
of the standard?
e) How many units should be completed each hour if the worker performs at 110 percent
of the standard?

Answer:
a)

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-9


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

Element Mean Observed Time


1 0.582
2 1.515
3 0.759
4 0.319
5 2.1

b)
Element Normal Time (NT)
1 (0.582)(0.95)(1) = 0.553
2 (1.515)(0.90)(0.25) = 0.341
3 (0.759)(1.0)(1) = 0.759
4 (0.319)(1.10)(1) = 0.351
5 (1.565)(0.90)(0.20) = 0.378

c) ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = 1 + PFD = 1 + 0.15 = 1.15

Work Element Standard Time (ST)


1 (0.553)(1.15) = 0.636
2 (0.341)(1.15) = 0.392
3 (0.759)(1.15) = 0.873
4 (0.351)(1.15) = 0.404
5 (0.378)(1.176) = 0.435

STjob = (0.636 + 0.392 + 0.873 + 0.404 + 0.435) = 2.740 minutes

d) Number of units/hour = (60 minutes/hour)(1 unit/2.740 minutes)


= 21.898 units per hour

e) Number of units/hour = (21.898 units/hour)(1.10) = 24.088 units/hour

16. As a class project you have been asked to project the proportion of time a professor
spends on various activities. You have decided to use the work-sampling method. Your
initial observations are shown.

Activity Observed Number of Times


Observed
Grading 4
Administrative paperwork 6
Preparing for class 5
Teaching class 5
Meeting with student(s) 8
On the phone 2
Working on research 6
Unavailable 4
Total 40

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-10


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Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

You are instructed that your estimates are to be within 5 percent of the true value with 97
percent confidence (z = 2.17).
a) Based on your initial observations, how many total observations are needed to
estimate the proportion of time the professor spends on each activity?

Activity Observed Number of Times


Observed
Grading 30
Administrative paperwork 50
Preparing for class 30
Teaching class 30
Meeting with student(s) 66
On the phone 17
Working on research 45
Unavailable 34
Total 302

b) Determine what proportion of time the professor spends teaching class.


c) Determine what proportion of time the professor spends working on research.
d) If the professor works approximately 54 hours per week, determine the amount of
time that would normally be spent on each activity.

Answer:
a) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends grading is 0.10 (4 observed times/40 observations taken).
2
 2.17 
n=   (0.10)(1 – 0.10) = 170 observations
 0.05 

Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends doing administrative paperwork is 0.15 (6 observed times/40
observations taken).
2
 2.17 
n=   (0.15)(1 – 0.15) = 241 observations
 0.05 

Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends preparing for class is 0.125 (5 observed times/40 observations
taken).
2
 2.17 
n=   (0.125)(1 – 0.125) = 207 observations
 0.05 

Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends teaching class is 0.125 (5 observed times/40 observations taken).
2
 2.17 
n=   (0.125)(1 – 0.125) = 207 observations
 0.05 

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-11


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends meeting with student(s) is 0.20 (8 observed times/40 observations
taken).
2
 2.17 
n=   (0.20)(1 – 0.20) = 302 observations
 0.05 

Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends on the phone is 0.05 (2 observed times/40 observations taken).
2
 2.17 
n=   (0.05)(1 – 0.05) = 90 observations
 0.05 

Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends working on research is 0.15 (6 observed times/40 observations
taken).
2
 2.17 
n=   (0.15)(1 – 0.15) = 241 observations
 0.05 

Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor is unavailable is 0.10 (4 observed times/40 observations taken).
2
 2.17 
n=   (0.10)(1 – 0.10) = 170 observations
 0.05 

b) The proportion of time the professor spends teaching class is 30/302 = 9.9%.

c) The proportion of time the professor spends working on research is 45/302 = 14.9%.

d)
Activity Observed Time spent (hours)
Grading (30/302)(54) = 5.36
Administrative paperwork (50/302)(54) = 8.94
Preparing for class (30/302)(54) = 5.36
Teaching class (30/302)(54) = 5.36
Meeting with student(s) (66/302)(54) = 11.80
On the phone (17/302)(54) = 3.04
Working on research (45/302)(54) = 8.05
Unavailable (34/302)(54) = 6.08

17. Your 20 observations of Dr. Knowitall reveal the following information. Assume that the
estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true proportion 95 percent of the time.

Activity Observed Number of Times


Observed
With patient 6
Reviewing test results 3
On phone 2
Idle 1

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-12


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

Away on emergency 4
Not available 4

a) Calculate the sample size needed to estimate the proportion of time Dr. Knowitall
spends away on emergencies.
b) Calculate the sample size needed to estimate the proportion of time Dr. Knowitall
spends reviewing test results.
c) Calculate the minimum number of observations that must be made to complete the
work-sampling analysis.

Answer:
a) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Dr.
Knowitall spends away on emergencies is 0.20 (4 observed times/20 observations
taken).
2
 1.96 
n=   (0.20)(1 – 0.20) = 246 observations
 0.05 

b) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Dr.
Knowitall spends reviewing test results is 0.15 (3 observed times/20 observations
taken).
2
 1.96 
n=   (0.15)(1 – 0.15) = 196 observations
 0.05 

c) The largest observed frequency is 6 (with patient). Based on the preliminary


observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Dr. Knowitall spends with
patients is 0.30 (6 observed times/20 observations taken). Therefore, the minimum
number of observations that must be made to complete the work-sampling analysis is:
2
 1.96 
n=   (0.30)(1 – 0.30) = 323 observations
 0.05 

18. You need to develop a labor time estimate for a customer order of 20 network
installations. It is estimated that the first installation will require 60 hours of labor, and a
learning curve of 90 percent is expected.
a) How many labor-hours are required for the fifteenth installation?
b) How many labor-hours are required for the twentieth installation?
c) How many labor-hours are required to complete all 20 installations?
d) If the average labor cost is $32.00, what is the total labor cost for installing the
networks?

Answer:
a) T = 60 hours, and the coefficient from Table 11-9 is 0.663.
Number of labor-hours = 60(0.663) = 39.78 hours

b) T = 60 hours, and the coefficient from Table 11-9 is 0.634.


Number of labor-hours = 60(0.634) = 38.04 hours

c) T = 60 hours and the coefficient from Table 11-9 is 14.608.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-13


Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions

Total number of labor-hours = 60(14.608) = 876.48 hours

d) Total labor cost = (876.48 hours)($32/hour) = $28,047.36

19. Students in an operations management class have been assigned six similar computer
homework problems. Alexis needed 40 minutes to complete the first problem. Assuming
an 80 percent learning curve, how much total time will Alexis need to complete the
assignment?

Answer:
T = 40 minutes, n = 6, total learning curve coefficient = 4.299
Total time = 40(4.299) = 171.96 minutes, or 2.87 hours.

20. Your company has received an order for 20 units of a product. The labor cost to produce
the item is $9.50 per hour. The setup cost for the item is $60 and material costs are $25
per unit. The item is sold for $92. The learning rate is 80 percent. Overhead is assessed at
a rate of 55 percent of unit labor cost.
a) Determine the average unit cost for the 20 units if the first unit takes four hours.
b) Determine the minimum number of units that need to be made before the selling price
meets or exceeds the average unit cost.

Answer:
a) n =20, total learning curve coefficient = 10.485

Total cost = setup + material costs + labor cost + overhead cost


= 60 + 20(25) + 9.5(4)(10.485) + 0.55(9.5)(4)(10.485) = $1,177.57

Average cost per unit = $1,177.57/20 = $58.88

b) If Total Revenue ≥ Total Cost, the selling price per unit exceeds the average unit cost.
92n ≥ 60 + 25n + 1.55(9.5)(4)(total learning curve coefficient for n)

More simply, 67n – 60 = 58.9 (total learning curve coefficient); While several
approaches may be taken from here, the simplest may be by trial and error. The
production becomes profitable at n = 4.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SM 11-14


Other documents randomly have
different content
heirs of the same glorious inheritance. How great will be our joy to
behold Him who humbled Himself for us to death, even the death of
the cross, now exalted God over all, blest for evermore; and while
contemplating Him under the character of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, how great the relish which will be given to that feeling of the
redeemed which will constrain them to cry, "Thou alone art worthy
to receive glory, and honor, and power."
II. But the apostle reminds us of the entrance into this kingdom!
1. The entrance into this kingdom is death: "By one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin:"

"Death, like a narrow sea, divides


That heavenly land from ours!"

"A messenger is sent to bring us to God, but it is the King of Terrors.


We enter the land flowing with milk and honey, but it is through the
valley of the shadow of death." Yet fear not, O thou child of God!
there is no need that thou, through the fear of death, shouldst be all
thy lifetime subject to bondage.
2. No; hear the apostle: the entrance is ministered unto thee!
Death is but His minister; he can not lock his ice-cold hand in thine
till He permit. Our Jesus has the keys of hell and death; and till He
liberates the vassal to bring thee home, not a hair of thy head can
fall to the ground! Fear not, thou worm! He who minds the sparrows
appoints the time for thy removal: fear not; only be thou always
ready, that, whenever the messenger comes to take down the
tabernacle in which thy spirit has long made her abode, thou mayest
be able to exclaim, "Amen! even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly."
Death need have no terrors for thee; he is the vassal of thy Lord,
and, however unwilling to do Him reverence, yet to Him that sits at
God's right hand shall even death pay, if not a joyful, yet a trembling
homage; nay, more:

"To Him shall earth and hell submit,


And every foe shall fall,
Till death expires beneath His feet,
And God is all in all."
Christ has already had one triumph over death; His iron pangs
could not detain the Prince who has "life in himself"; and in His
strength thou shalt triumph, for the power of Christ is promised to
rest upon thee! He has had the same entrance; His footsteps
marked the way, and His cry to thee is, "Follow thou me." "My
sheep," says He, "hear my voice, and they do follow me"; they
follow Me gladly, even into this gloomy vale; and what is the
consequence? "They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand."
3. It is ministered unto you abundantly. Perhaps the apostle
means that the death of some is distinguished by indulgences and
honors not vouchsafed to all. In the experience of some, the
passage appears difficult; in others it is comparatively easy; they
gently fall asleep in Jesus. But we not only see diversities in the
mortal agony—this would be a small thing.... Some get in with sails
full spread and carrying a rich cargo indeed, while others arrive
barely on a single plank. Some, who have long had their
conversation in heaven, are anxious to be wafted into the celestial
haven; while others, who never sought God till alarmed at the
speedy approach of death, have little confidence,

"And linger shivering on the brink,


And fear to launch away."

This doctrine must have been peculiarly encouraging to the early


converts to whom St. Peter wrote. From the tenor of both of his
epistles it is clear that they were in a state of severe suffering, and
in great danger of apostatizing through fear of persecution. He
reminds them that if they hold fast their professions, an abundant
entrance will be administered unto them. The death of the martyr is
far more glorious than that of the Christian who concealed his
profession through fear of man. Witness the case of Stephen: he
was not ashamed of being a witness for Jesus in the face of the
violent death which awaited him, and which crushed the tabernacle
of his devoted spirit; his Lord reserved the highest display of His love
and of His glory for that awful hour! "Behold!" says he to his
enemies, while gnashing on him with their teeth, "Behold! I see
heaven opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of
God"; then, in the full triumph of faith, he cries out, "Lord Jesus!
receive my spirit!"
But did these things apply merely to the believers to whom St.
Peter originally wrote? No; you are the men to whom they equally
apply; according to your walk and profession of that gospel will be
the entrance which will be ministered unto you. Some of you have
heard, in another of our houses, during the past week, the
dangerous tendency of the spirit of fear, the fear of man. I would
you had all heard that discourse: alas! many who have a name and
a place among us are becoming mere Sabbath-day worshipers in the
courts of the Lord, and lightly esteem the daily means of grace. I
believe this is one cause at least why many are weak and sickly
among us in divine things. The inner man does not make due
increase; the world is stealing a march unawares upon us. May God
revive among us the spirit of our fathers!
These things, then, I say, equally apply to you. Behold the strait,
the royal, the king's highway! Are you afraid of the reproach of
Christ?

"Ashamed of Jesus, that dear Friend,


On whom our hopes of heaven depend?"

How soon would the world be overcome if all who profess that faith
were faithful to it! Wo to the rebellious children who compromise
truth with the world, and in effect deny their Lord and Master! Who
hath required this at their hands? Do they not follow with the crowd
who cry, "Lord, Lord! and yet do not the things which He says"? Will
they have the adoption and the glory? Will they aim at the honor
implied in these words, "Ye are my witnesses?" Will ye indeed be
sons? Then see the path wherein His footsteps shine! The way is
open! see that ye walk therein! The false apostles, the deceitful
workers shall have their reward; the same that those of old had, the
praise and esteem of men; while the faith of those who truly call
Him Father and Lord, and who walk in the light as He is in the light,
who submit, like Him and His true followers, to be counted as "the
filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things", shall be found
unto praise, and honor, and glory!
The true Christian does not seek to hide himself in a corner; he
lets his light shine before men, whether they will receive it or not;
and thereby is his Father glorified. Having thus served, by the will of
God, the hour of his departure at length arrives. The angels beckon
him away; Jesus bids him come; and as he departs this life he looks
back with a heavenly smile on surviving friends, and is enabled to
say, "Whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know." An entrance is
ministered unto him abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of his
Lord and Savior.
III. Having considered the state to which we look, and the mode
of our admission, let us consider the condition of it. This is implied in
the word "so." "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you." In
the preceding part of this chapter, the apostle has pointed out the
meaning of this expression, and in the text merely sums it all up in
that short mode of expression.
The first condition he shows to be, the obtaining like precious faith
with him, through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus
Christ. Not a faith which merely assents to the truths of the gospel
record, but a faith which applies the merits of the death of Christ to
expiate my individual guilt; which lays hold on Him as my sacrifice,
and produces, in its exercises, peace with God, a knowledge of the
divine favor, a sense of sin forgiven, and a full certainty, arising from
a divine impression on the heart, made by the Spirit of God, that I
am accepted in the Beloved and made a child of God.
If those who profess the Gospel of Christ were but half as zealous
in seeking after this enjoyment as they are in discovering creaturely
objections to its attainment, it would be enjoyed by thousands who
at present know nothing of its happy reality. Such persons,
unfortunately for themselves, employ much more assiduity in
searching a vocabulary to find out epithets of reproach to attach to
those who maintain the doctrine than in searching that volume
which declares that "if you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of
his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father"; and that "he that
believeth hath the witness in himself." In whatever light a scorner
may view this doctrine now, the time will come when, being found
without the wedding garment, he will be cast into outer darkness.
O sinner! cry to God this day to convince thee of thy need of this
salvation, and then thou wilt be in a condition to receive it:

"Shalt know, shalt feel thy sins forgiven,


Bless'd with this antepast of heaven."

But, besides this, the apostle requires that we then henceforth


preserve consciences void of offense toward God and toward man.
This faith which obtains the forgiveness of sin unites to Christ, and
by this union we are made, as St. Peter declares, "partakers of the
divine nature": and as He who has called you is holy, so you are to
be holy in all manner of conversation. For yours is a faith which not
only casts out sin, but purifies the heart—the conscience having
been once purged by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, you are
not to suffer guilt to be again contracted; for the salvation of Christ
is not only from the penalty, but from the very stain of sin; not only
from its guilt, but from its pollution; not only from its condemnation,
but from its very "in-being"; "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
from all sin"; and "For this purpose was the Son of God manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil." You are therefore
required by St. Peter, "to escape the corruption that is in the world
through lust," and thus to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord!
Finally, live in progressive and practical godliness. Not only
possess, but practise, the virtues of religion; not only practise, but
increase therein, abounding in the work of the Lord! Lead up, hand
in hand, in the same delightful chorus, all the graces which adorn
the Christian character. Having the divine nature, possessing a new
and living principle, let diligent exercise reduce it to practical
holiness; and you will be easily discerned from those formal
hypocrites, whose faith and religion are but a barren and unfruitful
speculation.
To conclude: live to God—live for God—live in God; and let your
moderation be known unto all men—the Lord is at hand: "Therefore
giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue,
knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance,
patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity."
NEWMAN
GOD'S WILL THE END OF LIFE

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

John Henry Newman was born in London in 1801. He won high


honors at Oxford, and in 1828 was appointed vicar of the University
Church, St. Mary's, and with Keble and Pusey headed the Oxford
Movement. In the pulpit of St. Mary's he soon showed himself to be
a power. His sermons, exquisite, tho simple in style, chiefly deal with
various phases of personal religion which he illustrated with a keen
spiritual insight, a sympathetic glow, an exalted earnestness and a
breadth of range, unparalleled in English pulpit utterances before his
time. His extreme views on questions of catholicity, sacerdotalism
and the sacraments, as well as his craving for an infallible authority
in matters of faith, shook his confidence in the Church of England
and he went over to Rome in 1845. He was made Cardinal in 1879
and died in 1890.
NEWMAN
1801-1890
GOD'S WILL THE END OF LIFE

I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of
him that sent me.—John vi., 38.
I am going to ask you a question, my dear brethren, so trite, and
therefore so uninteresting at first sight, that you may wonder why I
put it, and may object that it will be difficult to fix the mind on it,
and may anticipate that nothing profitable can be made of it. It is
this: "Why were you sent into the world?" Yet, after all, it is perhaps
a thought more obvious than it is common, more easy than it is
familiar; I mean it ought to come into your minds, but it does not,
and you never had more than a distant acquaintance with it, tho
that sort of acquaintance with it you have had for many years. Nay,
once or twice, perhaps you have been thrown across the thought
somewhat intimately, for a short season, but this was an accident
which did not last. There are those who recollect the first time, as it
would seem, when it came home to them. They were but little
children, and they were by themselves, and they spontaneously
asked themselves, or rather God spake in them, "Why am I here?
how came I here? who brought me here? What am I to do here?"
Perhaps it was the first act of reason, the beginning of their real
responsibility, the commencement of their trial; perhaps from that
day they may date their capacity, their awful power, of choosing
between good and evil, and of committing mortal sin. And so, as life
goes on, the thought comes vividly, from time to time, for a short
season across their conscience; whether in illness, or in some
anxiety, or at some season of solitude, or on hearing some preacher,
or reading some religious work. A vivid feeling comes over them of
the vanity and unprofitableness of the world, and then the question
recurs, "Why then am I sent into it?"
And a great contrast indeed does this vain, unprofitable, yet
overbearing world present with such a question as that. It seems out
of place to ask such a question in so magnificent, so imposing a
presence, as that of the great Babylon. The world professes to
supply all that we need, as if we were sent into it for the sake of
being sent here, and for nothing beyond the sending. It is a great
favor to have an introduction to this august world. This is to be our
exposition, forsooth, of the mystery of life. Every man is doing his
own will here, seeking his own pleasure, pursuing his own ends; that
is why he was brought into existence. Go abroad into the streets of
the populous city, contemplate the continuous outpouring there of
human energy, and the countless varieties of human character, and
be satisfied! The ways are thronged, carriage-way and pavement;
multitudes are hurrying to and fro, each on his own errand, or are
loitering about from listlessness, or from want of work, or have come
forth into the public concourse, to see and to be seen, for
amusement or for display, or on the excuse of business. The
carriages of the wealthy mingle with the slow wains laden with
provisions or merchandise, the productions of art or the demands of
luxury. The streets are lined with shops, open and gay, inviting
customers, and widen now and then into some spacious square or
place, with lofty masses of brickwork or of stone, gleaming in the
fitful sunbeam, and surrounded or fronted with what simulates a
garden's foliage. Follow them in another direction, and you find the
whole groundstead covered with large buildings, planted thickly up
and down, the homes of the mechanical arts. The air is filled, below,
with a ceaseless, importunate, monotonous din, which penetrates
even to your innermost chamber, and rings in your ears even when
you are not conscious of it; and overhead, with a canopy of smoke,
shrouding God's day from the realms of obstinate, sullen toil. This is
the end of man!
Or stay at home, and take up one of those daily prints, which are
so true a picture of the world; look down the columns of
advertisements, and you will see the catalog of pursuits, projects,
aims, anxieties, amusements, indulgences which occupy the mind of
man. He plays many parts: here he has goods to sell, there he wants
employment; there again he seeks to borrow money, here he offers
you houses, great seats or small tenements; he has food for the
million, and luxuries for the wealthy, and sovereign medicines for the
credulous, and books, new and cheap, for the inquisitive. Pass on to
the news of the day, and you will learn what great men are doing at
home and abroad: you will read of wars and rumors of wars; of
debates in the legislature; of rising men, and old statesmen going off
the scene; of political contests in this city or that country; of the
collision of rival interests. You will read of the money market, and
the provision market, and the market for metals; of the state of
trade, the call for manufactures, news of ships arrived in port, of
accidents at sea, of exports and imports, of gains and losses, of
frauds and their detection. Go forward, and you arrive at discoveries
in art and science, discoveries (so-called) in religion, the court and
royalty, the entertainments of the great, places of amusement,
strange trials, offenses, accidents, escapes, exploits, experiments,
contests, ventures. Oh, this curious restless, clamorous, panting
being, which we call life!—and is there to be no end to all this? Is
there no object in it? It never has an end, it is forsooth its own
object!
And now, once more, my brethren, put aside what you see and
what you read of the world, and try to penetrate into the hearts, and
to reach the ideas and the feelings of those who constitute it; look
into them as closely as you can; enter into their houses and private
rooms; strike at random through the streets and lanes: take as they
come, palace and hovel, office or factory, and what will you find?
Listen to their words, witness, alas! their works; you will find in the
main the same lawless thoughts, the same unrestrained desires, the
same ungoverned passions, the same earthly opinions, the same
wilful deeds, in high and low, learned and unlearned; you will find
them all to be living for the sake of living; they one and all seem to
tell you, "We are our own center, our own end." Why are they
toiling? why are they scheming? for what are they living? "We live to
please ourselves; life is worthless except we have our own way; we
are not sent here at all, but we find ourselves here, and we are but
slaves unless we can think what we will, believe what we will, love
what we will, hate what we will, do what we will. We detest
interference on the part of God or man. We do not bargain to be rich
or to be great; but we do bargain, whether rich or poor, high or low,
to live for ourselves, to live for the lust of the moment, or, according
to the doctrine of the hour, thinking of the future and the unseen
just as much or as little as we please."
Oh, my brethren, is it not a shocking thought, but who can deny
its truth? The multitude of men are living without any aim beyond
this visible scene; they may from time to time use religious words, or
they may profess a communion or a worship, as a matter of course,
or of expedience, or of duty, but, if there was sincerity in such
profession, the course of the world could not run as it does. What a
contrast is all this to the end of life, as it is set before us in our most
holy faith! If there was one among the sons of men, who might
allowably have taken his pleasure, and have done his own will here
below, surely it was He who came down on earth from the bosom of
the Father, and who was so pure and spotless in that human nature
which He put on Him, that He could have no human purpose or aim
inconsistent with the will of His Father. Yet He, the Son of God, the
Eternal Word, came, not to do His own will, but His who sent Him,
as you know very well is told us again and again in Scripture. Thus
the Prophet in the Psalter, speaking in His person, says, "Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God." And He says in the Prophet Isaiah, "The Lord
God hath opened mine ear, and I do not resist; I have not gone
back." And in the gospel, when He hath come on earth, "My food is
to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." Hence,
too, in His agony, He cried out, "Not my will, but thine, be done;"
and St. Paul, in like manner, says, that "Christ pleased not himself;"
and elsewhere, that, "tho he was God's Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered." Surely so it was; as
being indeed the eternal coequal Son, His will was one and the same
with the Father's will, and He had no submission of will to make; but
He chose to take on Him man's nature and the will of that nature;
he chose to take on Him affections, feelings, and inclinations proper
to man, a will innocent indeed and good, but still a man's will,
distinct from God's will; a will, which, had it acted simply according
to what was pleasing to its nature, would, when pain and toil were
to be endured, have held back from an active cooperation with the
will of God. But, tho He took on Himself the nature of man, He took
not on Him that selfishness, with which fallen man wraps himself
round, but in all things He devoted Himself as a ready sacrifice to
His Father. He came on earth, not to take His pleasure, not to follow
His taste, not for the mere exercise of human affection, but simply
to glorify His Father and to do His will. He came charged with a
mission, deputed for a work; He looked not to the right nor to the
left, He thought not of Himself, He offered Himself up to God.
Hence it is that He was carried in the womb of a poor woman,
who, before His birth, had two journeys to make, of love and of
obedience, to the mountains and to Bethlehem. He was born in a
stable, and laid in a manger. He was hurried off to Egypt to sojourn
there; then He lived till He was thirty years of age in a poor way, by
a rough trade, in a small house, in a despised town. Then, when He
went out to preach, He had not where to lay His head; He wandered
up and down the country, as a stranger upon earth. He was driven
out into the wilderness, and dwelt among the wild beasts. He
endured heat and cold, hunger and weariness, reproach and
calumny. His food was coarse bread, and fish from the lake, or
depended on the hospitality of strangers. And as He had already left
His Father's greatness on high, and had chosen an earthly home; so
again, at that Father's bidding, He gave up the sole solace given Him
in this world, and denied Himself His mother's presence. He parted
with her who bore Him; He endured to be strange to her; He
endured to call her coldly "woman," who was His own undefiled one,
all beautiful, all gracious, the best creature of His hands, and the
sweet nurse of His infancy. He put her aside, as Levi, His type,
merited the sacred ministry, by saying to His parents and kinsmen,
"I know you not." He exemplified in His own person the severe
maxim, which He gave to His disciples, "He that loveth more than
me is not worthy of me." In all these many ways He sacrificed every
wish of His own; that we might understand, that, if He, the Creator,
came into His world, not for His own pleasure, but to do His Father's
will, we too have most surely some work to do, and have seriously
to bethink ourselves what that work is.
Yes, so it is; realize it, my brethren;—every one who breathes,
high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and
woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world
for nothing; we are not born at random; we are not here, that we
may go to bed at night, and get up in the morning, toil for our
bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and
reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees
every one of us; He creates every soul, He lodges it in the body, one
by one, for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of
us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and
we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we
can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ
had His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we
must rejoice in ours also.
St. Paul on one occasion speaks of the world as a scene in a
theater. Consider what is meant by this. You know, actors on a stage
are on an equality with each other really, but for the occasion they
assume a difference of character; some are high, some are low,
some are merry, and some sad. Well, would it not be simple
absurdity in any actor to pride himself on his mock diadem, or his
edgeless sword, instead of attending to his part? What, if he did but
gaze at himself and his dress? what, if he secreted, or turned to his
own use, what was valuable in it? Is it not his business, and nothing
else, to act his part well? Common sense tells us so. Now we are all
but actors in this world; we are one and all equal, we shall be
judged as equals as soon as life is over; yet, equal and similar in
ourselves, each has his special part at present, each has his work,
each has his mission,—not to indulge his passions, not to make
money, not to get a name in the world, not to save himself trouble,
not to follow his bent, not to be selfish and self-willed, but to do
what God puts on him to do.
Look at the poor profligate in the gospel, look at Dives; do you
think he understood that his wealth was to be spent, not on himself,
but for the glory of God?—yet forgetting this, he was lost for ever
and ever. I will tell you what he thought, and how he viewed things:
he was a young man, and had succeeded to a good estate, and he
determined to enjoy himself. It did not strike him that his wealth had
any other use than that of enabling him to take his pleasure. Lazarus
lay at his gate; he might have relieved Lazarus; that was God's will;
but he managed to put conscience aside, and he persuaded himself
he should be a fool, if he did not make the most of this world, while
he had the means. So he resolved to have his fill of pleasure; and
feasting was to his mind a principal part of it. "He fared sumptuously
every day"; everything belonging to him was in the best style, as
men speak; his house, his furniture, his plate of silver and gold, his
attendants, his establishments. Everything was for enjoyment, and
for show, too; to attract the eyes of the world, and to gain the
applause and admiration of his equals, who were the companions of
his sins. These companions were doubtless such as became a person
of such pretensions; they were fashionable men; a collection of
refined, high-bred, haughty men, eating, not gluttonously, but what
was rare and costly; delicate, exact, fastidious in their taste, from
their very habits of indulgence; not eating for the mere sake of
eating, or drinking for the mere sake of drinking, but making a sort
of science of their sensuality; sensual, carnal, as flesh and blood can
be, with eyes, ears, tongue steeped in impurity, every thought, look,
and sense, witnessing or ministering to the evil one who ruled them;
yet, with exquisite correctness of idea and judgment, laying down
rules for sinning;—heartless and selfish, high, punctilious, and
disdainful in their outward deportment, and shrinking from Lazarus,
who lay at the gate, as an eye-sore, who ought for the sake of
decency to be put out of the way. Dives was one of such, and so he
lived his short span, thinking of nothing but himself, till one day he
got into a fatal quarrel with one of his godless associates, or he
caught some bad illness; and then he lay helpless on his bed of pain,
cursing fortune and his physician that he was no better, and
impatient that he was thus kept from enjoying his youth, trying to
fancy himself mending when he was getting worse, and disgusted at
those who would not throw him some word of comfort in his
suspense, and turning more resolutely from his Creator in proportion
to his suffering;—and then at last his day came, and he died, and
(oh! miserable!) "was buried in hell." And so ended he and his
mission.
This was the fate of your pattern and idol, oh, ye, if any of you be
present, young men, who, tho not possest of wealth and rank, yet
affect the fashions of those who have them. You, my brethren, have
not been born splendidly, or nobly; you have not been brought up in
the seats of liberal education; you have no high connections; you
have not learned the manners nor caught the tone of good society;
you have no share of the largeness of mind, the candor, the
romantic sense of honor, the correctness of taste, the consideration
for others, and the gentleness which the world puts forth as its
highest type of excellence; you have not come near the courts of the
mansions of the great; yet you ape the sin of Dives, while you are
strangers to his refinement. You think it the sign of a gentleman to
set yourselves above religion; to criticize the religious and professors
of religion; to look at Catholic and Methodist with impartial
contempt; to gain a smattering of knowledge on a number of
subjects; to dip into a number of frivolous publications, if they are
popular; to have read the latest novel; to have heard the singer and
seen the actor of the day; to be well up with the news; to know the
names and, if so be, the persons of public men, to be able to bow to
them; to walk up and down the street with your heads on high, and
to stare at whatever meets you; and to say and do worse things, of
which these outward extravagances are but the symbol. And this is
what you conceive you have come upon the earth for! The Creator
made you, it seems, oh, my children, for this work and office, to be
a bad imitation of polished ungodliness, to be a piece of tawdry and
faded finery, or a scent which has lost its freshness, and does not
but offend the sense! O! that you could see how absurd and base
are such pretenses in the eyes of any but yourselves! No calling of
life but is honorable; no one is ridiculous who acts suitably to his
calling and estate; no one, who has good sense and humility, but
may, in any state of life, be truly well-bred and refined; but
ostentation, affectation, and ambitious efforts are, in every station of
life, high or low, nothing but vulgarities. Put them aside, despise
them yourselves. Oh, my very dear sons, whom I love, and whom I
would fain serve;—oh, that you could feel that you have souls! oh,
that you would have mercy on your souls! oh, that, before it is too
late, you would betake yourselves to Him who is the source of all
that is truly high and magnificent and beautiful, all that is bright and
pleasant and secure what you ignorantly seek, in Him whom you so
wilfully, so awfully despise!
He, alone, the Son of God, "the brightness of the Eternal Light,
and the spotless mirror of His Majesty," is the source of all good and
all happiness to rich and poor, high and low. If you were ever so
high, you would need Him; if you were ever so low, you could offend
Him. The poor can offend Him; the poor man can neglect his divinely
appointed mission as well as the rich. Do not suppose, my brethren,
that what I have said against the upper or the middle class will not,
if you happen to be poor, also lie against you. Though a man were
as poor as Lazarus, he could be as guilty as Dives. If you were
resolved to degrade yourselves to the brutes of the field, who have
no reason and no conscience, you need not wealth or rank to enable
you to do so. Brutes have no wealth; they have no pride of life; they
have no purple and fine linen, no splendid table, no retinue of
servants, and yet they are brutes. They are brutes by the law of
their nature; they are the poorest among the poor; there is not a
vagrant and outcast who is so poor as they; they differ from him,
not in their possessions, but in their want of a soul, in that he has a
mission and they have not, he can sin and they can not. Oh, my
brethren, it stands to reason, a man may intoxicate himself with a
cheap draft, as well as with a costly one; he may steal another's
money for his appetites, though he does not waste his own upon
them; he may break through the natural and social laws which
encircle him, and profane the sanctity of family duties, tho he be not
a child of nobles, but a peasant or artisan,—nay, and perhaps he
does so more frequently than they. This is not the poor's
blessedness, that he has less temptations to self-indulgence, for he
has as many, but that from his circumstances he receives the
penances and corrections of self-indulgence. Poverty is the mother
of many pains and sorrows in their season, and these are God's
messengers to lead the soul to repentance; but, alas! if the poor
man indulges his passions, thinks little of religion, puts off
repentance, refuses to make an effort, and dies without conversion,
it matters nothing that he was poor in this world, it matters nothing
that he was less daring than the rich, it matters not that he
promised himself God's favor, that he sent for the priest when death
came, and received the last sacraments; Lazarus too, in that case,
shall be buried with Dives in hell, and shall have had his consolation
neither in this world nor in the world to come.
My brethren, the simple question is, whatever a man's rank in life
may be, does he in that rank perform the work which God has given
him to do? Now then, let me turn to others, of a very different
description, and let me hear what they will say, when the question is
asked them. Why, they will parry it thus: "You give us no
alternative," they will say to me, "except that of being sinners or
saints. You put before us our Lord's pattern, and you spread before
us the guilt and ruin of the deliberate transgressor; whereas we
have no intention of going so far one way or the other; we do not
aim at being saints, but we have no desire at all to be sinners. We
neither intend to disobey God's will, nor to give up our own. Surely
there is a middle way, and a safe one, in which God's will and our
will may both be satisfied. We mean to enjoy both this world and the
next. We will guard against mortal sin; we are not obliged to guard
against venial; indeed it would be endless to attempt it. None but
saints do so; it is the work of a life; we need have nothing else to
do. We are not monks, we are in the world, we are in business, we
are parents, we have families; we must live for the day. It is a
consolation to keep from mortal sin; that we do, and it is enough for
salvation. It is a great thing to keep in God's favor; what indeed can
we desire more? We come at due time to the sacraments; this is our
comfort and our stay; did we die, we should die in grace, and
escape the doom of the wicked. But if we once attempted to go
further, where should we stop? how will you draw the line for us?
The line between mortal and venial sin is very distinct; we
understand that; but do you not see that, if we attended to our
venial sins, there would be just as much reason to attend to one as
to another? If we began to repress our anger, why not also repress
vainglory? Why not also guard against niggardliness? Why not also
keep from falsehood, from gossiping, from idling, from excess in
eating? And, after all, without venial sin we never can be, unless
indeed we have the prerogative of the Mother of God, which it would
be almost heresy to ascribe to any one but her. You are not asking
us to be converted; that we understand; we are converted, we were
converted a long time ago. You bid us aim at an indefinite vague
something, which is less than perfection, yet more than obedience,
and which, without resulting in any tangible advantage, debars us
from the pleasures and embarrasses us in the duties of this world."
This is what you will say; but your premises, my brethren, are
better than your reasoning, and your conclusions will not stand. You
have a right view why God has sent you into the world; viz., in order
that you may get to heaven; it is quite true also that you would fare
well indeed if you found yourselves there, you could desire nothing
better; nor, it is true, can you live any time without venial sin. It is
true also that you are not obliged to aim at being saints; it is no sin
not to aim at perfection. So much is true and to the purpose; but it
does not follow from it that you, with such views and feelings as you
have exprest, are using sufficient exertions even for attaining
purgatory. Has your religion any difficulty in it, or is it in all respects
easy to you? Are you simply taking your own pleasure in your mode
of living, or do you find your pleasure in submitting yourself to God's
pleasure? In a word, is your religion a work? For if it be not, it is not
religion at all. Here at once, before going into your argument, is a
proof that it is an unsound one, because it brings you to the
conclusion that, whereas Christ came to do a work, and all saints,
nay, nay, and sinners to do a work too, you, on the contrary, have no
work to do, because, forsooth, you are neither sinners nor saints; or,
if you once had a work, at least that you have despatched it already,
and you have nothing upon your hands. You have attained your
salvation, it seems, before your time, and have nothing to occupy
you, and are detained on earth too long. The work days are over,
and your perpetual holiday is begun. Did then God send you, above
all other men, into the world to be idle in spiritual matters? Is it your
mission only to find pleasure in this world, in which you are but as
pilgrims and sojourners? Are you more than sons of Adam, who, by
the sweat of their brow, are to eat bread till they return to the earth
out of which they are taken? Unless you have some work in hand,
unless you are struggling, unless you are fighting with yourselves,
you are no followers of those who "through many tribulations
entered into the kingdom of God." A fight is the very token of a
Christian. He is a soldier of Christ; high or low, he is this and nothing
else. If you have triumphed over all mortal sin, as you seem to think,
then you must attack your venial sins; there is no help for it; there is
nothing else to do, if you would be soldiers of Jesus Christ. But, oh,
simple souls! to think you have gained any triumph at all! No; you
cannot safely be at peace with any, even the least malignant, of the
foes of God; if you are at peace with venial sins, be certain that in
their company and under their shadow mortal sins are lurking.
Mortal sins are the children of venial, which, tho they be not deadly
themselves, yet are prolific of death. You may think that you have
killed the giants who had possession of your hearts, and that you
have nothing to fear, but may sit at rest under your vine and under
your fig-tree; but the giants will live again, they will rise from the
dust, and, before you know where you are, you will be taken captive
and slaughtered by the fierce, powerful, and eternal enemies of God.
The end of a thing is the test. It was our Lord's rejoicing in His last
solemn hour, that He had done the work for which He was sent. "I
have glorified thee on earth." He says in His prayer, "I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do; I have manifested thy name
to the men whom thou hast given me out of the world." It was St.
Paul's consolation also, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me
a crown of justice, which the Lord shall render to me in that day, the
just judge." Alas! alas! how different will be our view of things when
we come to die, or when we have passed into eternity, from the
dreams and pretenses with which we beguile ourselves now! What
will Babel do for us then? Will it rescue our souls from the purgatory
or the hell to which it sends them? If we were created, it was that
we might serve God; if we have His gifts, it is that we may glorify
Him; if we have a conscience, it is that we may obey it; if we have
the prospect of heaven, it is that we may keep it before us; if we
have light, that we may follow it, if we have grace, that we may save
ourselves by means of it. Alas! alas! for those who die without
fulfilling their mission; who were called to be holy, and lived in sin;
who were called to worship Christ, and who plunged into this giddy
and unbelieving world; who were called to fight, and who remained
idle; who were called to be Catholics, and who did but remain in the
religion of their birth! Alas for those who have had gifts and talent,
and have not used, or have misused, or abused them; who have had
wealth, and have spent it on themselves; who have had abilities,
and have advocated what was sinful, or ridiculed what was true, or
scattered doubts against what was sacred; who have had leisure,
and have wasted it on wicked companions, or evil books, or foolish
amusements! Alas! for those of whom the best can be said is, that
they are harmless and naturally blameless, while they never have
attempted to cleanse their hearts or to live in God's sight!
The world goes on from age to age, but the Holy Angels and
Blessed Saints are always crying Alas, alas! and Wo, wo! over the
loss of vocations, and the disappointment of hopes, and the scorn of
God's love, and the ruin of souls. One generation succeeds another,
and whenever they look down upon earth from their golden thrones,
they see scarcely anything but a multitude of guardian spirits,
downcast and sad, each following his own charge, in anxiety, or in
terror, or in despair, vainly endeavoring to shield him from the
enemy, and failing because he will not be shielded. Times come and
go, and man will not believe, that that is to be which is not yet, or
that what now is only continues for a season, and is not eternity.
The end is the trial; the world passes; it is but a pageant and a
scene; the lofty palace crumbles, the busy city is mute, the ships of
Tarshish have sped away. On heart and flesh death is coming; the
veil is breaking. Departing soul, how hast thou used thy talents, thy
opportunities, the light poured around thee, the warnings given
thee, the grace inspired into thee? Oh, my Lord and Savior, support
me in that hour in the strong arms of Thy sacraments, and by the
fresh fragrance of Thy consolations. Let the absolving words be said
over me, and the holy oil sign and seal me, and Thy own body be
my food, and Thy blood my sprinkling; and let my sweet mother
Mary breathe on me, and my angel whisper peace to me, and my
glorious saints, and my own dear father, Philip, smile on me; that in
them all, and through them all, I may receive the gift of
perseverance, and die, as I desire to live, in Thy faith, in Thy
Church, in Thy service, and in Thy love.
BUSHNELL
UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Horace Bushnell was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1802.


Graduated at Yale 1827. In 1833 he became pastor of the North
Congregational Church, Hartford, Conn., resigned in 1859 and died
in 1876. He wrote many theological works. Among them "Christian
Nurture" (1847), a book now looked upon as of classical authority.
Considerable discussion among Calvinists was aroused by his
"Nature and the Supernatural," and his "The Vicarious Sacrifice"
(1865) as being out of accord with the accepted creeds of the
Congregational churches. He lacked the sympathy and dramatic
instinct necessary to great oratorical achievement, but his sermons
prove by their profound suggestiveness that he was a man of keen
spiritual insight, and preached with force and impressiveness. His
influence upon the ministers of America in modifying theology and
remolding the general type of preaching is fairly comparable with
that of Robertson.
BUSHNELL
1802-1876
UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE[4]

Then went in also that other disciple.—John xx., 8.


In this slight touch or turn of history, is opened to us, if we scan
closely, one of the most serious and fruitful chapters of Christian
doctrine. Thus it is that men are ever touching unconsciously the
springs of motion in each other; thus it is that one man, without
thought or intention, or even a consciousness of the fact, is ever
leading some other after him. Little does Peter think, as he comes
up where his doubting brother is looking into the sepulcher, and
goes straight in, after his peculiar manner, that he is drawing in his
brother apostle after him. As little does John think, when he loses
his misgivings, and goes into the sepulcher after Peter, that he is
following his brother. And just so, unaware to himself, is every man,
the whole race through, laying hold of his fellow-man, to lead him
where otherwise he would not go. We overrun the boundaries of our
personality—we flow together. A Peter leads a John, a John goes
after Peter, both of them unconscious of any influence exerted or
received. And thus our life and conduct are ever propagating
themselves, by a law of social contagion, throughout the circles and
times in which we live.
There are, then, you will perceive, two sorts of influence belonging
to man; that which is active or voluntary, and that which is
unconscious—that which we exert purposely or in the endeavor to
sway another, as by teaching, by argument, by persuasion, by
threatenings, by offers and promises, and that which flows out from
us, unaware to ourselves, the same which Peter had over John when
he led him into the sepulcher. The importance of our efforts to do
good, that is of our voluntary influence, and the sacred obligation we
are under to exert ourselves in this way, are often and seriously
insisted on. It is thus that Christianity has become, in the present
age, a principle of so much greater activity than it has been for
many centuries before; and we fervently hope that it will yet become
far more active than it now is, nor cease to multiply its industry, till it
is seen by all mankind to embody the beneficence and the living
energy of Christ Himself.
But there needs to be reproduced, at the same time, and partly
for this object, a more thorough appreciation of the relative
importance of that kind of influence or beneficence which is
insensibly exerted. The tremendous weight and efficacy of this,
compared with the other, and the sacred responsibility laid upon us
in regard to this, are felt in no such degree or proportion as they
should be; and the consequent loss we suffer in character, as well as
that which the Church suffers in beauty and strength, is incalculable.
The more stress, too, needs to be laid on this subject of insensible
influence, because it is insensible; because it is out of mind, and,
when we seek to trace it, beyond a full discovery.
If the doubt occur to any of you, in the announcement of this
subject, whether we are properly responsible for an influence which
we exert insensibly; we are not, I reply, except so far as this
influence flows directly from our character and conduct. And this it
does, even much more uniformly than our active influence. In the
latter we may fail of our end by a want of wisdom or skill, in which
case we are still as meritorious, in God's sight, as if we succeeded.
So, again, we may really succeed, and do great good by our active
endeavors, from motives altogether base and hypocritical, in which
case we are as evil, in God's sight, as if we had failed. But the
influences we exert unconsciously will almost never disagree with
our real character. They are honest influences, following our
character, as the shadow follows the sun. And, therefore, we are
much more certainly responsible for them, and their effects on the
world. They go streaming from us in all directions, tho in channels
that we do not see, poisoning or healing around the roots of society,
and among the hidden wells of character. If good ourselves, they are
good; if bad, they are bad. And, since they reflect so exactly our
character, it is impossible to doubt our responsibility for their effects
on the world. We must answer not only for what we do with a
purpose, but for the influence we exert insensibly. To give you any
just impressions of the breadth and seriousness of such a reckoning
I know to be impossible. No mind can trace it. But it will be
something gained if I am able to awaken only a suspicion of the vast
extent and power of those influences, which are ever flowing out
unbidden upon society, from your life and character.
In the prosecution of my design, let me ask of you, first of all, to
expel the common prejudice that there can be nothing of
consequence in unconscious influences, because they make no
report, and fall on the world unobserved. Histories and biographies
make little account of the power men exert insensibly over each
other. They tell how men have led armies, established empires,
enacted laws, gained causes, sung, reasoned, and taught—always
occupied in setting forth what they do with a purpose. But what they
do without purpose, the streams of influence that flow out from their
persons unbidden on the world, they can not trace or compute, and
seldom even mention. So also the public laws make men responsible
only for what they do with a positive purpose, and take no account
of the mischiefs or benefits that are communicated by their noxious
or healthful example. The same is true in the discipline of families,
churches, and schools; they make no account of the things we do,
except we will them. What we do insensibly passes for nothing,
because no human government can trace such influences with
sufficient certainty to make their authors responsible.
But you must not conclude that influences of this kind are
insignificant, because they are unnoticed and noiseless. How is it in
the natural world? Behind the mere show, the outward noise and stir
of the world, nature always conceals her hand of control, and the
laws by which she rules. Who ever saw with the eye, for example, or
heard with the ear, the exertions of that tremendous astronomic
force, which every moment holds the compact of the physical
universe together? The lightning is, in fact, but a mere firefly spark
in comparison; but, because it glares on the clouds, and thunders so
terribly in the ear, and rives the tree or the rock where it falls, many
will be ready to think that it is a vastly more potent agent than
gravity.
The Bible calls the good man's life a light, and it is the nature of
light to flow out spontaneously in all directions, and fill the world
unconsciously with its beams. So the Christian shines, it would say,
not so much because he will, as because he is a luminous object.
Not that the active influence of Christians is made of no account in
the figure, but only that this symbol of light has its propriety in the
fact that their unconscious influence is the chief influence, and has
the precedence in its power over the world. And yet, there are many
who will be ready to think that light is a very tame and feeble
instrument, because it is noiseless. An earthquake, for example, is to
them a much more vigorous and effective agency. Hear how it
comes thundering through solid foundations of nature. It rocks a
whole continent. The noblest works of man—cities, monuments, and
temples—are in a moment leveled to the ground, or swallowed down
the opening gulfs of fire. Little do they think that the light of every
morning, the soft, and genial, and silent light, is an agent many
times more powerful. But let the light of the morning cease and
return no more, let the hour of morning come, and bring with it no
dawn; the outcries of a horror-stricken world fill the air, and make,
as it were, the darkness audible. The beasts go wild and frantic at
the loss of the sun. The vegetable growths turn pale and die. A chill
creeps on, and frosty winds begin to howl across the freezing earth.
Colder, and yet colder, is the night. The vital blood, at length, of all
creatures, stops congealed. Down goes the frost toward the earth's
center. The heart of the sea is frozen; nay, the earthquakes are
themselves frozen in, under their fiery caverns. The very globe itself,
too, and all the fellow planets that have lost their sun, are become
mere balls of ice, swinging silent in the darkness. Such is the light,
which revisits us in the silence of the morning. It makes no shock or
scar. It would not wake an infant in his cradle. And yet it perpetually
new creates the world, rescuing it each morning, as a prey, from
night and chaos. So the Christian is a light, even "the light of the
world," and we must not think that, because he shines insensibly or
silently, as a mere luminous object, he is therefore powerless. The
greatest powers are ever those which lie back of the little stirs and
commotion of nature; and I verily believe that the insensible
influences of good men are much more potent than what I have
called their voluntary, or active, as the great silent powers of nature
are of greater consequence than her little disturbances and tumults.
The law of human influences is deeper than many suspect, and they
lose sight of it altogether. The outward endeavors made by good
men or bad to sway others, they call their influence; whereas, it is,
in fact, but a fraction, and, in most cases, but a very small fraction,
of the good or evil that flows out of their lives. Nay, I will even go
further. How many persons do you meet, the insensible influence of
whose manners and character is so decided as often to thwart their
voluntary influence; so that, whatever they attempt to do, in the way
of controlling others, they are sure to carry the exact opposite of
what they intend! And it will generally be found that, where men
undertake by argument or persuasion to exert a power, in the face of
qualities that make them odious or detestable, or only not entitled to
respect, their insensible influence will be too strong for them. The
total effect of the life is then of a kind directly opposite to the
voluntary endeavor, which, of course, does not add so much as a
fraction to it.
I call your attention, next, to the twofold powers of effect and
expression by which man connects with his fellow man. If we
distinguish man as a creature of language, and thus qualified to
communicate himself to others, there are in him two sets or kinds of
language, one which is voluntary in the use, and one that is
involuntary; that of speech in the literal sense, and that expression
of the eye, the face, the look, the gait, the motion, the tone of
cadence, which is sometimes called the natural language of the
sentiments. This natural language, too, is greatly enlarged by the
conduct of life, that which, in business and society, reveals the
principles and spirit of men. Speech, or voluntary language, is a door
to the soul, that we may open or shut at will; the other is a door
that stands open evermore, and reveals to others constantly, and
often very clearly, the tempers, tastes, and motives of their hearts.
Within, as we may represent, is character, charging the common
reservoir of influence, and through these twofold gates of the soul
pouring itself out on the world. Out of one it flows at choice, and
whensoever we purpose to do good or evil to men. Out of the other
it flows each moment, as light from the sun, and propagates itself in
all beholders.
Then if we go to others, that is, to the subjects of influence, we
find every man endowed with two inlets of impression; the ear and
the understanding for the reception of speech, and the sympathetic
powers, the sensibilities or affections, for tinder to those sparks of
emotion revealed by looks, tones, manners and general conduct.
And these sympathetic powers, tho not immediately rational, are yet
inlets, open on all sides, to the understanding and character. They
have a certain wonderful capacity to receive impressions, and catch
the meaning of signs, and propagate in us whatsoever falls into their
passive molds from others. The impressions they receive do not
come through verbal propositions, and are never received into verbal
propositions, it may be, in the mind, and therefore many think
nothing of them. But precisely on this account are they the more
powerful, because it is as if one heart were thus going directly into
another, and carrying in its feelings with it. Beholding, as in a glass,
the feelings of our neighbor, we are changed into the same image,
by the assimilating power of sensibility and fellow-feeling. Many have
gone so far, and not without show, at least, of reason, as to maintain
that the look or expression, and even the very features of children,
are often changed by exclusive intercourse with nurses and
attendants. Furthermore, if we carefully consider, we shall find it
scarcely possible to doubt, that simply to look on bad and malignant
faces, or those whose expressions have become infected by vice, to
be with them and become familiarized to them, is enough
permanently to affect the character of persons of mature age. I do
not say that it must of necessity subvert their character, for the evil
looked upon may never be loved or welcomed in practise; but it is
something to have these bad images in the soul, giving out their
expressions there, and diffusing their odor among the thoughts, as
long as we live. How dangerous a thing is it, for example, for a man
to become accustomed to sights of cruelty? What man, valuing the
honor of his soul, would not shrink from yielding himself to such an
influence? No more is it a thing of indifference to become
accustomed to look on the manners, and receive the bad expression
of any kind of sin.
The door of involuntary communication, I have said, is always
open. Of course we are communicating ourselves in this way to
others at every moment of our intercourse or presence with them.
But how very seldom, in comparison, do we undertake by means of
speech to influence others! Even the best Christian, one who most
improves his opportunities to do good, attempts but seldom to sway
another by voluntary influence, whereas he is all the while shining as
a luminous object unawares, and communicating of his heart to the
world.
But there is yet another view of this double line of communication
which man has with his fellow-men, which is more general, and
displays the import of the truth yet more convincingly. It is by one of
these modes of communication that we are constituted members of
voluntary society, and by the other, parts of a general mass, or
members of involuntary society. You are all, in a certain view,
individuals, and separate as persons from each other; you are also,
in a certain other view, parts of a common body, as truly as the
parts of a stone. Thus if you ask how it is that you and all men came
without your consent to exist in society, to be within its power, to be
under its laws, the answer is, that while you are a man, you are also
a fractional element of a larger and more comprehensive being,
called society—be it the family, the church, the state. In a certain
department of your nature, it is open; its sympathies and feelings
are open. On this open side you will adhere together, as parts of a
larger nature, in which there is a common circulation of want,
impulse, and law. Being thus made common to each other
voluntarily, you become one mass, one consolidated social body,
animated by one life. And observe how far this involuntary
communication and sympathy between the members of a state or a
family is sovereign over their character. It always results in what we
call the national or family spirit; for there is a spirit peculiar to every
state and family in the world. Sometimes, too, this national or family
spirit takes a religious or an irreligious character, and appears almost
to absorb the religious self-government of individuals. What was the
national spirit of France, for example, at a certain time, but a spirit
of infidelity? What is the religious spirit of Spain at this moment, but
a spirit of bigotry, quite as wide of Christianity and destructive of
character as the spirit of falsehood? What is the family spirit in many
a house, but the spirit of gain, or pleasure, or appetite, in which
everything that is warm, dignified, genial, and good in religion, is
visibly absent? Sometimes you will almost fancy that you see the
shapes of money in the eyes of children. So it is that we are led on
by nations, as it were, to good or bad immortality. Far down in the
secret foundations of life and society there lie concealed great laws
and channels of influence, which make the race common to each
other in all the main departments or divisions of the social mass,
laws which often escape our notice altogether, but which are to
society as gravity to the general system of God's works.
But these are general considerations, and more fit, perhaps, to
give you a rational conception of the modes of influence and their
relative power, than to verify that conception, or establish its truth. I
now proceed to add, therefore, some miscellaneous proofs of a more
particular nature.
And I mention, first of all, the instinct of imitation in children. We
begin our mortal experience, not with acts grounded in judgment or
reason, or with ideas received through language, but by simple
imitation, and, under the guidance of this, we lay our foundations.
The child looks and listens, and whatsoever tone of feeling or
manner of conduct is displayed around him, sinks into his plastic,
passive soul, and becomes a mold of his being ever after. The very
handling of the nursery is significant, and the petulance, the
passion, the gentleness, the tranquillity indicated by it, are all
reproduced in the child. His soul is a purely receptive nature, and
that for a considerable period, without choice or selection. A little
further on he begins voluntarily to copy everything he sees. Voice,
manner, gait, everything which the eye sees, the mimic instinct
delights to act over. And thus we have a whole generation of future
men, receiving from us their beginnings, and the deepest impulses
of their life and immortality. They watch us every moment, in the
family, before the hearth, and at the table; and when we are
meaning them no good or evil, when we are conscious of exerting
no influence over them, they are drawing from us impressions and
molds of habit, which, if wrong, no heavenly discipline can wholly
remove; or, if right, no bad associations utterly dissipate. Now it may
be doubted, I think, whether, in all the active influence of our lives,
we do as much to shape the destiny of our fellow-men as we do in
this single article of unconscious influence over children.
Still further on, respect for others takes the place of imitation. We
naturally desire the approbation or good opinion of others. You see
the strength of this feeling in the article of fashion. How few persons
have the nerve to resist a fashion! We have fashions, too, in
literature, and in worship, and in moral and religious doctrine, almost
equally powerful. How many will violate the best rules of society,
because it is the practise of the circle! How many reject Christ
because of friends or acquaintance, who have no suspicion of the
influence they exert, and will not have, till the last days show them
what they have done! Every good man has thus a power in his
person, more mighty than his words and arguments, and which
others feel when he little suspects it. Every bad man, too, has a fund
of poison in his character, which is tainting those around him, when
it is not in his thoughts to do them injury. He is read and
understood. His sensual tastes and habits, his unbelieving spirit, his
suppressed leer at religions, have all a power, and take hold of the
heart of others, whether he will have it so or not.
Again, how well understood is it that the most active feelings and
impulses of mankind are contagious. How quick enthusiasm of any
sort is to kindle, and how rapidly it catches from one to another, till a
nation blazes in the flame! In the case of the Crusades you have an
example where the personal enthusiasm of one man put all the
states of Europe in motion. Fanaticism is almost equally contagious.
Fear and superstition always infect the mind of the circle in which
they are manifested. The spirit of war generally becomes an
epidemic of madness, when once it has got possession of a few
minds. The spirit of party is propagated in a similar manner. How
any slight operation in the market may spread, like a fire, if
successful, till trade runs wild in a general infatuation, is well known.
Now, in all these examples, the effect is produced, not by active
endeavor to carry influence, but mostly by that insensible
propagation which follows, when a flame of any kind is once more
kindled.
It is also true, you may ask, that the religious spirit propagates
itself or tends to propagate itself in the same way? I see no reason
to question that it does. Nor does anything in the doctrine of
spiritual influences, when rightly understood, forbid the supposition.
For spiritual influences are never separated from the laws of thought
in the individual, and the laws of feeling and influence in society. If,
too, every disciple is to be an "epistle known and read of all men,"
what shall we expect, but that all men will be somehow affected by
the reading? Or if he is to be a light in the world, what shall we look
for, but that others, seeing his good works, shall glorify God on his
account? How often is it seen, too, as a fact of observation, that one
or a few good men kindle at length a holy fire in the community in
which they live, and become the leaven of general reformation! Such
men give a more vivid proof in their persons of the reality of
religious faith than any words or arguments could yield. They are
active; they endeavor, of course, to exert a good voluntary influence;
but still their chief power lies in their holiness and the sense they
produce in others of their close relation to God.
It now remains to exhibit the very important fact, that where the
direct or active influence of men is supposed to be great, even this is
due, in a principal degree, to that insensible influence by which their
arguments, reproofs, and persuasions are secretly invigorating. It is
not mere words which turn men; it is the heart mounting, uncalled,
into the expression of the features; it is the eye illuminated by
reason, the look beaming with goodness; it is the tone of the voice,
that instrument of the soul, which changes quality with such
amazing facility, and gives out in the soft, the tender, the tremulous,
the firm, every shade of emotion and character. And so much is
there in this, that the moral stature and character of the man that
speaks are likely to be well represented in his manner. If he is a
stranger, his way will inspire confidence and attract good will. His
virtues will be seen, as it were, gathering round him to minister
words and forms of thought, and their voices will be heard in the fall
of his cadences. And the same is true of bad men, or men who have
nothing in their character corresponding to what they attempt to do.
If without heart or interest you attempt to move another, the
involuntary man tells what you are doing in a hundred ways at once.
A hypocrite, endeavoring to exert a good influence, only tries to
convey by words what the lying look, and the faithless affectation, or
dry exaggeration of his manner perpetually resists. We have it for a
fashion to attribute great or even prodigious results to the voluntary
efforts and labors of men. Whatever they effect is commonly
referred to nothing but the immediate power of what they do. Let us
take an example, like that of Paul, and analyze it. Paul was a man of
great fervor and enthusiasm. He combined, withal, more of what is
lofty and morally commanding in his character, than most of the very
distinguished men of the world. Having this for his natural character,
and his natural character exalted and made luminous by Christian
faith, and the manifest indwelling of God, he had of course an
almost superhuman sway over others. Doubtless he was intelligent,
strong in argument, eloquent, active, to the utmost of his powers,
but still he moved the world more by what he was than by what he
did. The grandeur and spiritual splendor of his character were ever
adding to his active efforts an element of silent power, which was
the real and chief cause of their efficacy. He convinced, subdued,
inspired, and led, because of the half-divine authority which
appeared in his conduct, and his glowing spirit. He fought the good
fight, because he kept the faith, and filled his powerful nature with
influences drawn from higher worlds.
And here I must conduct you to a yet higher example, even that
of the Son of God, the light of the world. Men dislike to be swayed
by direct, voluntary influence. They are jealous of such control, and
are therefore best approached by conduct and feeling, and the
authority of simple worth, which seem to make no purposed onset.
If goodness appears, they welcome its celestial smile; if heaven
descends to encircle them, they yield to its sweetness; if truth
appears in the life, they honor it with a secret homage; if personal
majesty and glory appear, they bow with reverence, and
acknowledge with shame their own vileness. Now it is on this side of
human nature that Christ visits us, preparing just that kind of
influence which the spirit of truth may wield with the most
persuasive and subduing effect. It is the grandeur of His character
which constitutes the chief power of His ministry, not His miracles or
teachings apart from His character. Miracles were useful, at the time,
to arrest attention, and His doctrine is useful at all times as the
highest revelation of truth possible in speech; but the greatest truth
of the gospel, notwithstanding, is Christ Himself—a human body
becomes the organ of the divine nature, and reveals, under the
conditions of an earthly life, the glory of God! The Scripture writers
have much to say, in this connection, of the image of God; and an
image, you know, is that which simply represents, not that which
acts, or reasons, or persuades. Now it is this image of God which
makes the center, the sun itself, of the gospel. The journeyings,
teachings, miracles, and sufferings of Christ, all had their use in
bringing out this image, or what is the same, in making conspicuous
the character and feelings of God, both toward sinners and toward
sin. And here is the power of Christ—it is that God's beauty, love,
truth, and justice shines through Him. It is the influence which flows
unconsciously and spontaneously out of Christ, as the friend of man,
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