Daily Thoughts Part 30

Night and Growth. September 21.

As in the world of Nature, so it is in the world of men. The night is peopled not merely with phantoms and superst.i.tions and spirits of evil, but under its shadow all sciences, methods, social energies, are taking rest, and growing, and feeding, unknown to themselves.

_Prose Idylls_. 1850.

Pa.s.sion. September 22.

Self-sacrifice! What is love worth that does not show itself in action?

and more, which does not show itself in _pa.s.sion_ in the true sense of that word: namely, in suffering? in daring, in struggling, in grieving, in agonising, and, if need be, in dying for the object of its love? Every mother will give but one answer to that question.

_Westminster Sermons_. 1870.

Worth of Beauty. September 23.

It is a righteous instinct which bids us welcome and honour beauty, whether in man or woman, as something of real worth--divine, heavenly, ay, though we know not how, in a most deep sense Eternal; which makes our reason give the lie to all merely logical and sentimental maunderings of moralists about "the fleeting hues of this our painted clay;" and tell men, as the old Hebrew Scriptures told them, that physical beauty is the deepest of all spiritual symbols; and that though beauty without discretion be the jewel of gold in the swine's snout, yet the jewel of gold it is still, the sacrament of an inward beauty, which ought to be, perhaps hereafter may be, fulfilled in spirit and in truth.

_Hypatia_, chap. xxvi. 1852.

Empty Profession. September 24.

What is the sin which most destroys all men and nations? High religious profession, with an unG.o.dly, selfish life. It is the worst and most dangerous of all sins; for it is like a disease which eats out the heart and life without giving pain, so that the sick man never suspects that anything is the matter with him till he finds himself, to his astonishment, at the point of death.

_National Sermons_. 1851.

True Poetry. September 25.

Let us make life one poem--not of dreams or sentiments--but of actions, not done Byronically as proofs of genius, but for our own self-education, alone, in secret, awaiting the crisis which shall call us forth to the battle to do just what other people do, only, perhaps, by an utterly different self-education. That is the life of great spirits, after, perhaps, many many years of seclusion, of silent training in the lower paths of G.o.d's vineyard, till their hearts have settled into a still, deep, yet swift current, and those who have been faithful over a few things are made rulers over many things.

_MS. Letter_. 1842.

Office of the Clergy. September 26.

There is a Christian as well as political liberty quite consistent with High Church principles, which makes the clergy our teachers--not the keepers of our _consciences_ but of our _creeds_.

_Letters and Memories_. 1842.

Opinions are not Knowledge. September 27.

. . . As to self-improvement, the true Catholic mode of learning is to "prove all things," as far as we can, without sin or the danger of it, to "hold fast that which is good." Let us never be afraid of trying anything new, learnt from people of different opinions to our own. And let us never be afraid of changing our opinions. The unwillingness to go back from once declared opinion is a form of pride which haunts some powerful minds: but it is not found in great childlike geniuses. Fools may hold fast to their scanty stock through life, and we must be very cautious in drawing them from it--for where can they supply its place?

_Letters and Memories_. 1843.

The Worst Punishment. September 28.

G.o.d reserves many a sinner for that most awful of all punishments (here)--impunity.

_Sermons_.

The Divine Order. September 29.

Ah, that G.o.d's will were but done on earth as it is in the material heaven overhead, in perfect order and obedience, as the stars roll in their courses, without rest, yet without haste--as all created things, even the most awful, fire and hail, snow and vapour, wind and storm, fulfil G.o.d's word, who hath made them sure for ever and ever, and given them a law which shall not be broken. But above them; above the divine and wonderful order of the material universe, and the winds which are G.o.d's angels, and the flames of fire which are His messengers; above all, the prophets and apostles have caught sight of another divine and wonderful order of _rational_ beings, of races loftier and purer than man--angels and archangels, thrones and dominions, princ.i.p.alities and powers, fulfilling G.o.d's will in heaven as it is not, alas! fulfilled on earth.

_All Saints' Day Sermons_. 1867.

True Resignation. September 30.

. . . Christianity heightens as well as deepens the human as well as the divine affections. I am happy, for the less hope, the more faith. . . .

G.o.d knows what is best for us; we do not. Continual resignation, at last I begin to find, is the secret of continual strength. "Daily _dying_,"

as Boehmen interprets it, is the path of daily _living_. . . .

_Letters and Memories_. 1843.

SAINTS' DAYS, FASTS, & FESTIVALS.

SEPTEMBER 21.

St. Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist, and Martyr.