Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Revelations are to be acted on.



  "Those things we see in scripture that we morally admire; we are practically bound to pursue. Human duties are not a mere picture gallery, in which we may loiter with our critic's glass; or a histrionic stage whose representations may delight us, while we sit still; but rather, great and solemn realities, presented on a scene where every spectator practices, beneath the eye of heaven, the divine art which he beholds; where to discern an excellence is to receive a trust; and ideal admirations are the source of actual necessities." James Martineau.

  How many times have I seen a picture like the one above, a picture of a duty left undone; I stop, as at a gallery, and look with a sad and sympathetic heart, vowing to do or give something, but with a change of scenery or company, the image is forgotten along with the need. Not recognizing, as Martineau so eloquently writes, this is a "great and solemn, divine art", presented to us as a trust, a trust to act upon with all of our faith.  

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