Scripture texts illustrated by general literatureJacox, Francis
Religion
Scripture texts illustrated by general literature
Jacox, Francis
Homiletical illustrations
Wordsworth is eloquently suggestive in those prefatory lines of his,
which weave a moral and infer a solace, from the fact, that the stars
pre-eminent in magnitude, and they that from the zenith dart their beams,
are yet of no diviner origin, no purer essence, than the one he watched
from Rydal Mount, burning like an untended watch-fire on the ridge of
some dark hill-top; or than those which seem
“Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps,
Among the branches of the leafless trees;
All are the undying offspring of one Sire.
Then, to the measure of the light vouchsafed,
Shine, poet, in thy place, and be content.”
If we weave a yard of tape in all humility, says Emerson, and as well
as we can, long hereafter we shall see that it was “no cotton tape at
all, but some galaxy which we braided, and that the threads were Time
and Nature.” Without number, as Archdeacon Hare puts it, are the sutlers
and pioneers, the engineers and artisans, who attend the march of
intellect; many of them busied in building and fitting up and painting
and emblazoning the chariot; others in lessening the friction of the
wheels; while others move forward in detachments, and level the way
it is to pass over, and cut down the obstacles which would impede its
progress. And these too, he proceeds to say, “have their reward. If so be
they labour diligently in their calling, not only will they enjoy that
calm contentment which diligence in the lowliest task never fails to win;
not only will the sweat of their brows be sweet, and the sweetener of
the rest that follows; but, when the victory is at last achieved, they
come in for a share of the glory; even as the meanest soldier who fought
at Marathon or at Leipsic became a sharer in the glory of those saving
days.” Remember, with Owen Meredith,—
“Remember, every man God made
Is different: has some deed to do,
Some work to work. Be undismay’d
Though thine be humble: do it too.”
An elder teacher would qualify the Remember by a Do not forget, that “it
matters infinitely less what we _do_ than what we _are_.” If we cannot
pursue a trade or a science—says a memorable voice from a sick-room,—if
we cannot keep house, or help the state, or write books, or earn our own
bread or that of others, we can do the work to which all this is only
subsidiary; “we can cherish a sweet and holy temper; we can vindicate
the supremacy of mind over body; we can, in defiance of our liabilities,
minister pleasure and hope to the gayest who come prepared to receive
pain from the spectacle of our pain; we can, here as well as in heaven’s
courts hereafter, reveal the angel growing into its immortal aspect,
which is the highest achievement we could propose to ourselves, or that
grace from above, could propose to us, if we had a free choice of all
possible conditions of human life.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account