Daily Thoughts Part 36

Those who have had no real sorrows can afford to play with imaginary ones.

_MS._

The indwelling Light. November 16.

The doctrine of Christ in every man, as the indwelling Word of G.o.d, the Light who lights every one who comes into the world, is no peculiar tenet of the Quakers, but one which runs through the whole of the Old and New Testaments, and without which they would both be unintelligible, just as the same doctrine runs through the whole history of the Early Church for the first two centuries, and is the only explanation of them.

_Theologica Germanica_. 1854.

Woman's Calling. November 17.

What surely is a woman's calling but to teach man? and to teach him what?

To temper his fiercer, coa.r.s.er, more self-a.s.sertive nature by the contact of her gentleness, purity, self-sacrifice. To make him see that not by blare of trumpets, not by noise, wrath, greed, ambition, intrigue, puffery, is good and lasting work to be done on earth; but by wise self- distrust, by silent labour, by lofty self-control, by that charity which hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things; by such an example, in short, as women now in tens of thousands set to those around them; such as they will show more and more, the more their whole womanhood is educated to employ its powers without waste and without haste in harmonious unity.

_Lecture on Thrift_. 1869.

Waste. November 18.

Thrift of the heart, thrift of the emotions--how are they wasted in these days in reading sensation novels! while British literature--all that the best hearts and intellects among our forefathers have bequeathed to us--is neglected for light fiction, the reading of which is the worst form of intemperance--dram-drinking and opium-eating, intellectual and moral.

_Lecture on Thrift_.

True Penance. November 19.

"Senor," said Brimblecombe, "the best way to punish oneself for doing ill seems to me to go and do good; and the best way to find out whether G.o.d means you well is to find out whether He will help you to do well."

_Westward Ho_! chap. xxv.

Political Economy of the Future. November 20.

I can conceive a time when, by improved chemical science, every foul vapour which now escapes from the chimney of a manufactory, polluting the air, destroying the vegetation, shall be seized, utilised, converted into some profitable substance, till the black country shall be black no longer, the streams once more crystal clear, the trees once more luxuriant, and the desert, which man has created in his haste and greed, shall in literal fact once more blossom as the rose. And just so can I conceive a time when by a higher civilisation, formed on a political economy more truly scientific, because more truly according to the will of G.o.d, our human refuse shall be utilised like our material refuse; when man as man, down to the weakest and most ignorant, shall be found (as he really is) so valuable that it will be worth while to preserve his health, to develop his capabilities, to save him alive, body, intellect, and character, at any cost; because men will see that a man is, after all, the most precious and useful thing on the earth, and that no cost spent on the development of human beings can possibly be thrown away.

_All Saints' Day Sermons_. 1870.

G.o.d's Pleasure. November 21.

The world was not made for man: but man, like all the world, was made for G.o.d. Not for man's pleasure merely, not for man's use, but for G.o.d's pleasure all things are, and for G.o.d's pleasure they were, created.

_All Saints' Day Sermons_. 1869.

The Hospital Nurse. November 22.

Fearless, uncomplaining, she "trusted in G.o.d and made no haste." She did her work and read her Bible; and read, too, again and again at stolen moments of rest, a book which was to her as the finding of an unknown sister--Longfellow's "Evangeline."

_Two Years Ago_, chap. xxviii.

Let us learn to look on hospitals not as acts of charity, supererogatory benevolences of ours towards those to whom we owe nothing, but as confessions of sin, and worthy fruits of penitence; as poor and late and partial compensation for misery which _we_ might have prevented.

_National Sermons_. 1851.

No Work Lost. November 23.

If you lose heart about your work, remember that none of it is _lost_--that the good of every good deed remains and breeds and works on for ever, and that all that fails and is lost is the outside sh.e.l.l of the thing, which, perhaps, might have been better done; but better or worse has nothing to do with the real spiritual good which you have done to men's hearts.

_Letters and Memories_. 1862.

True Temperance. November 24.

What we all want is inward rest; rest of heart and brain; the calm, strong, self-contained, self-denying character, which needs no stimulants, for it has no fits of depression; which needs no narcotics, for it has no fits of excitement; which needs no ascetic restraints, for it is strong enough to use G.o.d's gifts without abusing them; the character, in a word, which is truly temperate, not in drink and food merely, but in all desires, thoughts, and actions.

_Essays_. 1873.

A Present Veil. November 25.

What is there in this world worth having without religion? Do you not feel that true religion, even in its most imperfect stage, is not merely an escape from h.e.l.l after death but the only _real state_ for a man--the only position to live in in this world--the only frame of mind which will give anything like happiness here. I cannot help feeling at moments--if there were _no Christ_, everything, even the very flowers and insects, and every beautiful object, would be h.e.l.l _now_--dark, blank, hopeless.

_MS. Letter_. 1843.