Daily Thoughts Part 4

Bondage of Custom. February 4.

Strive all your life to free men from the bondage of _custom_ and _self_, the two great elements of the world that lieth in wickedness.

_MS. Letter_. l842.

Henceforth let no man peering down Through the dim glittering mine of future years Say to himself, "Too much! this cannot be!"

To-day and custom wall up our horizon: Before the hourly miracle of life Blindfold we stand, and sigh, as though G.o.d were not.

_Saint's Tragedy_, Act i. Scene ii.

1847.

The Childlike Mind. February 5.

There comes a time when we must _narrow_ our sphere of thought much, that we may _truly enlarge_ it! we must, _artificialised_ as we _have_ been, return to the rudiments of life, to children's pleasures, that we may find easily, through their transparent simplicity, spiritual laws which we may apply to the more intricate spheres of art and science.

_MS. Letter_. 1842.

Unselfish Prayer. February 6.

The Lord's Prayer teaches that we are members of a family, when He tells us to pray not "_My_ Father" but "Our Father;" not "_my_ soul be saved,"

but "Thy kingdom come;" not "give _me_" but "give _us_ our daily bread;"

not "forgive me," but "forgive _us_ our trespa.s.ses," and that only as we forgive others; not "lead _me_ not," but "lead _us_ not into temptation;"

not "deliver _me_," but "deliver _us_ from evil." After _that_ manner our Lord tells us to pray, and in proportion as we pray in that manner, just so far, and no farther, will G.o.d hear our prayers.

_National Sermons_. 1850.

G.o.d is Light. February 7.

All the deep things of G.o.d are bright, for G.o.d is Light. G.o.d's arbitrary will and almighty power may seem dark by themselves though deep, but that is because they do not involve His moral character. Join them with the fact that He is a G.o.d of mercy as well as justice; remember that His essence is love, and the thunder-cloud will blaze with dewy gold, full of soft rain and pure light.

_MS. Letter_. 1844.

The Veil Lifted. February 8.

Science is, I verily believe, like virtue, its own exceeding great reward. I can conceive few human states more enviable than that of the man to whom--panting in the foul laboratory, or watching for his life in the tropic forest--Isis shall for a moment lift her sacred veil and show him, once and for ever, the thing he dreamed not of, some law, or even mere hint of a law, explaining one fact: but explaining with it a thousand more, connecting them all with each other and with the mighty whole, till order and meaning shoots through some old chaos of scattered observations. Is not that a joy, a prize, which wealth cannot give nor poverty take away? What it may lead to he knows not. Of what use it may be he knows not. But this he knows, that somewhere it must lead, of some use it will be. For it is a truth.

_Lectures on Science and Superst.i.tion_.

1866.

All Science One. February 9.

Physical and spiritual science seem to the world to be distinct. One sight of G.o.d as we shall some day see Him will show us that they are indissolubly and eternally the same.

_MS._

Pa.s.sion and Reason. February 10.

Pa.s.sion and reason in a healthy mind ought to be inseparable. We need not be pa.s.sionless because we reason correctly. Strange to say, one's feelings will often sharpen one's knowledge of the truth, as they do one's powers of action.

_MS._ 1843.

Enthusiasm and Tact. February 11.

. . . People smile at the "enthusiasm of youth"--that enthusiasm which they themselves secretly look back at with a sigh, perhaps unconscious that it is partly their own fault that they ever lost it. . . . Do not fear being considered an enthusiast. What matter? But pray for _tact_, the true tact which love alone can give, to prevent scandalising a weak brother.

_Letters and Memories_. 1842.

Be earnest, earnest, earnest; mad, if thou wilt: Do what thou dost as if the stake were heaven, And that thy last deed ere the judgment-day.

When all's done, nothing's done. There's rest above-- Below let work be death, if work be love!

_Saint's Tragedy_, Act ii. Scene viii. 1847.

The Eternal Good. February 12.

"G.o.d hath showed thee what is good," . . . what is good in itself, and of itself--the one very eternal and absolute good, which was with G.o.d and in G.o.d and from G.o.d, before all worlds, and will be for ever, without changing, or growing less or greater, eternally the same good--the good which would be just as good and just and right and lovely and glorious if there were no world, no men, no angels, no heaven, no h.e.l.l, and G.o.d were alone in His own abyss.

_Sermons for the Times_. 1855.

Awfulness of Words. February 13.

A difference in words is a very awful and important difference; a difference in words is a difference in things. Words are very awful and wonderful things, for they come from the most awful and wonderful of all beings, Jesus Christ, THE WORD. He puts words into men's minds. He made all things, and He made words to express those things. And woe to those who use the wrong words about anything.