The path by which some come to see the Light, to find the Rock of Ages, is the simple path of honest self-knowledge, self-renunciation, self-restraint, in which every upward step towards right exposes some fresh depth of inward sinfulness, till the once proud man, crushed down by the sense of his own infinite meanness, becomes a little child once more, and casts himself simply on the generosity of Him who made him. And then there may come to him the vision, dim, perhaps, and fitting ill into clumsy words, but clearer, surer, nearer to him than the ground on which he treads, or than the foot which treads it--the vision of an Everlasting Spiritual Substance, most Human and yet most Divine, who can endure; and who, standing beneath all things, can make their spiritual substance endure likewise, though all worlds and eons, birth and growth and death, matter and space and time, should melt indeed-- And like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a rack behind. _Preface to Tauler's Sermons_. 1854. Proverbs False and True. October 21. There is no falser proverb than that devil's beatitude, "Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for he shall never be disappointed." Say rather, "Blessed is he who expecteth everything, for he enjoys everything once at least, and if it falls out true, twice also." _Prose Idylls_. 1857. True Sisters of Mercy. October 22. Ah! true Sisters of Mercy! whom the world sneers at as "old maids," if you pour out on cats and dogs and parrots a little of the love that is yearning to spend itself on children of your own. As long as such as you walk this lower world one needs no Butler's _Analogy_ to prove to us that there is another world, where such as you will have a fuller and a fairer (I dare not say a juster) portion. _Two Years Ago_, chap. xxv. 1856. The Divine Fire. October 23. Well spoke the old monks, peaceful, watching life's turmoil, "Eyes which look heavenward, weeping still we see: God's love with keen flame purges, like the lightning flash, Gold which is purest, purer still must be." _Saint's Tragedy_, Act iii. Scene i. 1847. The Cross a Token. October 24. Have patience, have faith, have hope, as thou standest at the foot of Christ's Cross, and holdest fast to it, the anchor of the _soul_ and _reason_, as well as of the _heart_. For, however ill the world may go, or seem to go, the Cross is the everlasting token that God so loved the world that He spared not His only-begotten Son, but freely gave Him for it. Whatsoever else is doubtful, that at least is sure--that good must conquer, because God is good, that evil must perish, because God hates evil, even to the death. _Westminster Sermons_. 1870. The True Self-Sacrifice. October 25. What can a man do more than _die_ for his countrymen? _Live_ for them. It is a longer work, and therefore a more difficult and a nobler one. _Two Years Ago_, chap. xix. 1856. Now as Then. October 26.