Unspoken Sermons, Series I., II., and III.MacDonald, George
Religion
Unspoken Sermons, Series I., II., and III.
MacDonald, George
Sermons, English -- 19th century
In a word, He came to supply all our lack--from the root outward; for
what is it we need but more life? What does the infant need but more
life? What does the bosom of his mother give him but life in abundance?
What does the old man need, whose limbs are weak and whose pulse is
low, but more of the life which seems ebbing from him? Weary with
feebleness, he calls upon death, but in reality it is life he wants. It
is but the encroaching death in him that desires death. He longs for
rest, but death cannot rest; death would be as much an end to rest as
to weariness: even weakness cannot rest; it takes strength as well as
weariness to rest. How different is the weariness of the strong man
after labour unduly prolonged, from the weariness of the sick man who
in the morning cries out, 'Would God it were evening!' and in the
evening, 'Would God it were morning!' Low-sunk life imagines itself
weary of life, but it is death, not life, it is weary of. Never a cry
went out after the opposite of life from any soul that knew what life
is. Why does the poor, worn, out-worn suicide seek death? Is it not in
reality to escape from death?--from the death of homelessness and
hunger and cold; the death of failure, disappointment, and distraction;
the death of the exhaustion of passion; the death of madness--of a
household he cannot rule; the death of crime and fear of discovery? He
seeks the darkness because it seems a refuge from the death which
possesses him. He is a creature possessed by death; what he calls his
life is but a dream full of horrible phantasms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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