Daily Thoughts Part 10

Any man or woman, in any age and under any circ.u.mstances, who _will_, _can_ live the heroic life and exercise heroic influences.

It is of the essence of self-sacrifice, and therefore of heroism, that it should be voluntary; a work of supererogation, at least, towards society and man; an act to which the hero or heroine is not bound by duty, but which is above though not against duty.

_Lecture on Heroism_. 1872.

The Ideal Holy One. March 31.

Have you never cried in your hearts with longing, almost with impatience, "Surely, surely, there is an ideal Holy One somewhere--or else, how could have arisen in my mind the conception, however faint, of an ideal holiness? But where? oh, where? Not in the world around strewn with unholiness. Not in myself, unholy too, without and within. Is there a Holy One, whom I may contemplate with utter delight? and if so, where is He? Oh, that I might behold, if but for a moment, His perfect beauty, even though, as in the fable of Semele of old, 'the lightning of His glance were death.'" . . .

And then, oh, then--has there not come that for which our spirit was athirst--the very breath of pure air, the very gleam of pure light, the very strain of pure music--for it is the very music of the spheres--in those words, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord G.o.d Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come"?

Yes, whatever else is unholy, there is a Holy One--spotless and undefiled, serene and self-contained. Whatever else I cannot trust, there is One whom I can trust utterly. Whatever else I am dissatisfied with, there is One whom I can contemplate with utter satisfaction, and bathe my stained soul in that eternal fount of purity. And who is He?

Who, save the Cause and Maker and Ruler of all things past, present, and to come?

_Sermon on All Saints' Day_. 1874.

Charles Kingsley's Dying Words, "HOW BEAUTIFUL G.o.d IS."

SAINTS' DAYS, FASTS, & FESTIVALS.

MARCH 25.

The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, COMMONLY CALLED Lady Day.

It is one of the glories of our holy religion, and one of the ways by which the Gospel takes such hold on our hearts, that, mixed up with the grandest and most mysterious and most divine matters, are the simplest, the most tender, the most human. What more grand, or deep, or divine words can we say than, "I believe in Jesus Christ, G.o.d's only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,"--and yet what more simple, human, and tender words can we say than, "Who was born of the Virgin Mary"? For what more beautiful sight on earth than a young mother with her babe upon her knee? Beautiful in itself; but doubly beautiful to those who can say, "I believe in Him who was born of the Virgin Mary."

For since He was born of woman, and thereby took the manhood into G.o.d, birth is holy, and childhood holy, and all a mother's joys and a mother's cares are holy to the Lord; and every Christian mother with her babe in her arms is a token and a sign from G.o.d, a pledge of His good-will towards men, a type and pattern of her who was highly-favoured and blessed above all women. Everything has its time, and Lady-Day is the time for our remembering the Blessed Virgin. For our hearts and reasons tell us (and have told all Christians in all ages), that she must have been holier, n.o.bler, fairer in body and soul, than all women upon earth.

_MS. Sermon_.

April.

Wild, wild wind, wilt thou never cease thy sighing?

Dark, dark night, wilt thou never wear away?

Cold, cold Church, in thy death sleep lying, Thy Lent is past, thy Pa.s.sion here, but not thine Easter Day.

Peace, faint heart, though the night be dark and sighing, Rest fair corpse, where thy Lord Himself hath lain.

Weep, dear Lord, above Thy bride low lying, Thy tears shall wake her frozen limbs to life and health again.

_The Dead Church_.

The Song of Birds. April 1.

St. Francis called the birds his brothers. Perfectly sure that he himself was a spiritual being, he thought it at least possible that the birds might be spiritual beings likewise, incarnate like himself in mortal flesh, and saw no degradation to the dignity of human nature in claiming kindred lovingly with creatures so beautiful, so wonderful, who (as he fancied in his old-fashioned way) praised G.o.d in the forest even as angels did in heaven.

_Prose Idylls_. 1867.

True Reformers. April 2.

It is not the many who reform the world; but the few who rise superior to that Public Opinion which crucified our Lord many years ago.

_MS. Lecture at Cambridge_. 1866.

High Ideals. April 3.

What if a man's idea of "The Church" be somewhat too narrow for the year of grace 18--, is it no honour to him that he has such an idea at all?

that there has risen up before him the vision of a perfect polity, a "divine and wonderful order," linking earth to heaven, and to the very throne of Him who died for men; witnessing to each of its citizens what the world tries to make him forget, namely, that he is the child of G.o.d Himself; and guiding and strengthening him from the cradle to the grave to do his Father's work? Is it no honour to him that he has seen that such a polity must exist, that he believes that it does exist, or that he thinks he finds it in its highest, if not in its most perfect form, in the most ancient and august traditions of his native land? True, he may have much still to learn. . . .

_Two Years Ago_, chap. iv. 1856.

Divine Knowledge. April 4.

That glorious word _know_--it is G.o.d's attribute, and includes in itself all others. Love, truth--all are parts of that awful power of _knowing_ at a single glance, from and to all eternity, what a thing is in its essence, its properties, and its relations to the whole universe through all Time. I feel awestruck whenever I see that word used rightly, and I never, if I can remember, use it myself of myself.

_Letters and Memories_. 1842.

Woman's Love. April 5.

The story of Ruth is the consecration of woman's love. I do not mean of the love of wife to husband, divine and blessed as that is. I mean that depth and strength of devotion, tenderness, and self-sacrifice, which G.o.d has put into the heart of all true women; and which they spend so strangely, and so n.o.bly often, on persons who have no claim on them, and from whom they can receive no earthly reward--the affection which made women minister of their substance to our Lord Jesus Christ, which brought Mary Magdalene to the foot of the cross and to the door of the tomb--the affection which made a wise man say that as long as women and sorrow are left in the world, so long will the gospel of our Lord Jesus live and conquer therein.

_Water of Life Sermons_.