"In the mere negative
virtue, meaning that which abstains from gross outward wrongs, which commits
neither theft, nor cruelty, nor excess, and paces the daily round of usage,
there is not necessarily any principle of spiritual growth. The force required to
maintain it becomes continually less, as the obstructions are worn down by
ceaseless attrition; and the character may hence become simply automatic,
performing a series of religious duties with the smallest expenditure of the
soul.
To nourish high affections, worthy of a nature that has kindred with the
Father of spirits, more than this is needed: positive and creative power,
spontaneous and original force, conquering energy of resolve, must be put
forth: from the inner soul some central strength must pass upon the active
life, to destroy that equilibrium between within and without which makes our
days mere self-repetitions, and to give us a progressive history.
There is a connection profound and beautiful between the affectionate
and the self-denying character of Christianity.
The voluntary sacrifices feed the involuntary sympathies of virtue: and
he that will daily suffer for his duty, and not lay his head to rest till he
has renounced some ease, embraced some hardship, in the service of others and of
God, shall replenish the fountains of his holiest life; and shall find his soul
not settling into the flat and stagnant marsh, but flowing under the most
delicious light of heaven above, over the gladdest fields of Providence below.
God will have us surrender without terms; and until then, we are fast
prisoners, and not free children in his universe.
So needful is sacrifice to the health and hardihood of conscience, that
if the occasions for it do not present themselves spontaneously in our lives,
we must create them for ourselves: not reserving to ourselves only those
exercises of virtue which are constitutionally pleasant, but on the contrary,
esteeming the difficulty of a duty as the reason why we should put our hand to
it at once.
He, in short, is no true soldier of the Lord, nor worthy to bear the
Christian armor, who in service so high, will not make an hour's forced march
of duty every day. So tasked and tested, the inner power, the athletic vigor,
of our moral nature, will not waste and die. The perceptions of goodness,
beauty, truth, become, when we are thus faithful, singularly clear: there
ripens within us the fullest faith in the moral excellence of God; the ties
that bind us to him and to his children are drawn more closely round; and in
this world we dwell as in the lower mansion of his house, where also the
"Father loves us, and makes his abode with us."
By such practical performance
alone, can any genuine love of man be matured in us. Charitable deeds are the
true school of learning and kindle our desire to do good to others. We are not
to wait, till some descending spirit, uninvoked and unearned enters us and
makes the labor of sympathy delightful; but to go and do the deed of mercy,
thought it be with reluctant step, with dry and parched spirit, and without the
grace of a free charity.
Perhaps we may return with a more genial mind and liberated affections:
and if not, we must sooner and the oftener do the act of blessing again, though
it be amid self-rebuke and shame, and recoil with no peace upon the soul. He
that with patience will become the distributor of sympathy and good deeds to
the poor and sad, and ask no portion of the blessing for himself, shall catch
the spirit of the divine love at length: those whom he steadfastly benefits he
will rejoice in at the end.
By such practical performance
alone, can we dismiss the clouds of doubt and ignoble mistrust, which, really
covering our own disordered minds, seem to cast shadows around the Most High,
and to blot out the heavens from us." Martineau.
