August 31st. It is now agreed as a mere question of anthropology that the
universal language of the human soul has always been "I perish with
hunger." This is what fits it for Christ. There is a grandeur in this cry
from the depths which makes its very unhappiness sublime. Natural Law, p.
300.
September 1st. In reflecting the character of Christ, it is no real
obstacle that we may never have been in visible contact with Himself.
Many men know Dante better than their own fathers. He influences them
more. As a spiritual presence he is more near to them, as a spiritual
force more real. Is there any reason why a greater than . . . Dante
should not also instruct, inspire, and mould the characters of men? The
Changed Life, pp. 38, 52.
September 2d. Mark this distinction. . . . Imitation is mechanical,
reflection organic. The one is occasional, the other habitual. In the one
case, man comes to God and imitates Him; in the other, God comes to man
and imprints Himself upon him. It is quite true that there is an
imitation of Christ which amounts to reflection. But Paul's term includes
all that the other holds, and is open to no mistake. "Whom having not
seen, I love." The Changed Life, p. 39.
September 3d. In paraphrase: We all reflecting as a mirror the character
of Christ are transformed into the same Image from character to
character--from a poor character to a better one, from a better one to
one a little better still, from that to one still more complete, until by
slow degrees the Perfect Image is attained. Here the solution of the
problem of sanctification is compressed into a sentence: Reflect the
character of Christ and you will become like Christ. The Changed Life, p.
24.
September 4th. Not more certain is it that it is something outside the
thermometer that produces a change in the thermometer, than it is
something outside the soul of man that produces a moral change upon him.
That he must be susceptible to that change, that he must be a party to
it, goes without saying; but that neither his aptitude nor his will can
produce it is equally certain. The Changed Life, p. 20.
September 5th. Just as in an organism we have these three things--
formative matter, formed matter, and the forming principle or life; so in
the soul we have the old nature, the renewed nature, and. the
transforming Life. Natural Law, p. 302.
September 6th. Is it hopeless to point out that one of the most
recognizable characteristics of life is its unrecognizableness, and that
the very token of its spiritual nature lies in its being beyond the
grossness of our eyes? Natural Law, p. 302.
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