The following piece by John Newton speaks to the blessings found in prayer, Church, sacraments etc. I enjoy his writings because of his keen insight into the hearts of men; this practical piece is a good example.

  Real communion with the Lord, in his appointed means of grace, is likewise an important branch of His blessedness. They were instituted for this end, and are sufficient, by virtue of his power and Spirit, to answer it. I do not believe this enjoyment will always be equal. But I believe a comfortable sense of it, in some measure, is generally attainable. To read the Scripture, not as an attorney may read a will, merely to know the sense; but as the heir reads it, as a description and proof of his interest; to hear the Gospel, as the voice of our Beloved, so as to have little leisure either for admiring the abilities, or censuring the defects of the preacher; and, in prayer, to feel a liberty of pouring out our hearts before the Lord, to behold some glances of his goodness passing before us, and to breathe forth before him the tempers of a child, the spirit of adoption; and thus, by beholding his glory, to be conformed more and more to his image, and to renew our strength by drawing out of the wells of salvation – herein is blessedness.” 

Gales of hope and fear

  "It may be thought then but common prudence in a man not to change a better state for a worse, nor ever to quit that which he knows he shall take up again with pleasure; and yet if human life be not a little moved with the gales of hope and fears, there may be some danger of its stagnating in an unmanly indolence and security. It is a know story of Domitian, that after he had possessed himself of the Roman Empire his desire turned upon catching flies. 
Active and masculine spirits in the vigor of youth neither can nor ought to remain at rest; if they debar themselves from aiming at a noble object, their desires will move downwards, and they will feel themselves actuated by some low and abject passion. Thus if you cut off the top branches of a tree, and will not allow it to grow any higher, it will not therefore cease to grow, but will quickly shoot out at the bottom." 


I want to add something to this but it stands on its own so well I will leave it. 


Joseph Addison, photo from the Internet.

Sculpting men

 “Aristotle tells us that a statue lies hid in a block of marble; and that the art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous matter and removes the rubbish. The figure is in the stone, the sculptor only finds it. What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to an human soul. The philosopher, the saint, or the hero, the wise, the good, or the great man, very often lie hid and concealed in a plebeian (common or vulgar person), which a proper education might have disinterred, and have brought to light. I am therefore much delighted with reading the accounts of savage nations, and with contemplating those virtues which are wild and uncultivated; to see courage exerting itself in fierceness, resolution in obstinacy, wisdom in cunning, patience in sullenness and despair.” 

  This paragraph by Joseph Addison is so relative when working with men in Teen Challenge; many men have come from prison or homelessness and although by no means do I consider them as “savages”, they have nonetheless displayed the traits he attributes to savages. Street smart, resourceful, and cunning are all virtues developed to get along in the hostile places some of the men come from. When gospel light, work ethic and Godly wisdom are applied, and as the rubbish falls away, we see emerging a glorious new creature.

Sculpture by Philippe Faraut

I picked up a copy of this movie at a garage sale and watched it the other night; wow! what a powerful movie that illustrates its title. Morgan Freeman plays a great part as a mentor to a young English boy caught in the madness of Hitlers hatred and persecution. It takes place in the 30's in South Africa and the cast and acting is wonderful. Soooooo inspirational but bring your handkerchief.
.

The keen mind, full of thought, rejoiceth in a quiet hour. 
While dullards hold it irksome, to be killed as best they can. 
M. Tupper

silence

I ran across the following quotes on silence; now after 41 years of rearing children silence may mean more to me than some. 


Silently as a dream.
Silent as a standing pool. 
Silent as a thought. 
Silent as a night. 
Silent as falling dews. 
Silent as the foot of time. 
Silent as the growth of flowers. 
Silent as your shadow.
Silent as snow falls on the earth. 
Silent as the day gives away to night. 
Silent as the grave. 


I like that. 


Photo from the internet

Trifles

  Charles Dickens, in "All the Year Round," says, "Some one was asked, 'What is genius?' He replied, 'A being who pays attention to trifles.' Columbus was about the best possible illustration of this. We know what an eye for incidents upon which to found conjectures he had. In the last days of his tour of discovery, when even he himself was a quarter disposed to turn back, and side with his men in their discontent at the barrenness of the voyage, he could bring forward that strong muster of trifling observations which together meant America.

   'You know that we have for several days been able to fathom; and the nature of the material  brought up by the lead seems to me auspicious. The clouds about the sun toward evening are of a different form and color from what they were a few days ago. The atmosphere, as you can feel, is warmer and softer than it was. The wind no longer blows with the same force, nor in so straightforward and unwavering a manner; it is inclined to hesitate and change, as though broken by some impediment. To these signs add that of the piece of sugar cane we discovered in the sea, which bore marks of having been recently severed, and the little branch of a tree with fresh red berries upon it; besides the swarms of birds thats pass over us, though they have deceived us before, are now so frequent and vast that I think there must be some special reason for their appearance. In short, all these omens together make me very hopeful and expectant."This was from the diary of Columbus.
Orison Swett Marden, The Secret of Achievement.

  "Christ brings about all that is good in the soul through judgment, and that so sweetly that many, by a dangerous error, think that that good which is in them and issues from them is from themselves, and not from the powerful work of grace." Richard Sibbes 1635

  This 'dangerous error' is apt to be committed by the young Christian more often; feeling the intensely meaningful connections that God establishes in and through us can naturally lead one to suppose there is a great good within us, but a short 'dark night of the soul' can soon clear that up. God is doing much and chooses to use humans as his customary vehicle, but the work is His and the more we step aside and let Him work the better the results.

  I like this picture I got from the Internet, to me it illustrates the connections that God establishes, and with the least complication in children.

Hope for him of weak grace

  God may communicate the less of his assisting strength, so that He may show the more of his supporting strength, in upholding him of weak grace. 

We do not wonder when we see a man of strong constitution, that eats his bread heartily and sleeps soundly, live. But for a crazy body, full of ails and infirmities, to be so patched and shored up by the physician’s art that he lives to old age, this begets some wonder in the beholders. It may be thou art a poor trembling soul, thy faith is weak, and thy assaults from Satan strong, thy corruptions stirring and active, and thy mortifying strength little, so that in thy opinion they rather gain ground on thy grace, rather than give ground to it. Ever and anon thou art ready to think thou shalt be cast as a wreck on the devil’s shore; and yet to this day thy grace lives, though full of leaks. Now is it not worth the stepping aside to see this strange sight?

A broken ship with masts and hull rent and torn, thus towed along by almighty power through an angry sea, and armadas of sins and devils, safely into it harbor. In a word, to see a weak stripling in grace held up in God’s arms till he beats the devil craven! This God is doing in upholding thee. Thou art one of those babes, out of whose mouth God is perfecting praise, by ordaining such strength for thee, that thou, a babe in grace, shalt yet foil a giant in wrath and power.”

This word of encouragement is from William Gurnall’s book titled the Christian in Complete Armour. Charles Spurgeon recommends this book be in every Christian’s library and David Wilkerson blesses the day he found this book and says it breathes holiness on every page.

Not a bad recommendation. 

There is a Jewish tradition concerning Moses……….That the great prophet, it is said, was called up by a voice from heaven to the top of a mountain, where in a conference with the Supreme being, he was permitted to propose to God some questions concerning His administration of the universe.

In the midst of this Divine conference he was commanded to look down on the plain below. At the foot of the mountain there issued out a clear spring of water, at which a soldier alighted from his horse to drink. He was no sooner gone than a little boy came to the same place, and finding a purse of gold, which the soldier had dropped, took it up and went away with it. Immediately after this came an infirm old man, weary with age and travelling, and having quenched his thirst, sat down to rest himself by the side of the spring. The soldier, missing his purse, returns to search for it, and demands it of the old man, who affirms he had not seen it, and appeals to Heaven in witness of his innocence. The soldier, not believing his protestations, kills him.

Moses fell on his face with horror and amazement, when the Divine Voice thus prevented his expostulation, ‘Be not surprised, Moses, nor ask why the Judge of the whole earth hath suffered this thing to come to pass; the child is the occasion that the blood of the old man is spilt; but know, that the old man whom thou sawest was the murderer of that child’s father’. Joseph Addison from The Spectator.

“We know in part and see through a glass dimly”.

Life plant

"There is a plant in Jamaica called the Life-plant, because it is almost impossible to kill it or any portion of it. When a leaf is cut off and hung up by a string, it sends out white thread-like shoots,

gathers moisture from the air, and begins to grow new leaves. Even when pressed and packed away in a botanist's herbarium, it has been known to grow out beyond the leaves of the book in which it is pressed. You can kill it by the heat of a hot iron, by boiling water, or by mashing it to pulp, but by no gentler means."

This little piece comes from Orison Swett Marden's book titled "The Secret of Achievement".

This comes from the chapter on the power of habit.

Rise in me

"Perish policy and cunning!

Perish all that fears the light!"

Ah, God! for a man of heart and hand,

Like some of the simple great ones gone

forever and forever by;

One still strong man in a blatant land,

Whatever they call him, what care I? ---

Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat, --- what care I? ---

One who can rule and dare not lie:

And ah, for a man to rise in me,

That the man I am may cease to be. ---- Tennyson

Deformed/beautiful

Human nature appears a very deformed, or a very beautiful object, according to the different lights in which its viewed. When we see men of inflamed passions, or of wicked designs, tearing one another to pieces by open violence, or undermining each other by secret treachery; when we observe base and narrow ends pursued by ignominious and dishonest means; when we behold men mixed in society as if it were for the destruction of it; we are even ashamed of our species.....

Addison

I read this the morning after I watched "Black Hawk Down", for the second or third time. This time I was so grieved by the violence and lack of concern that the warlords displayed. I went to bed feeling so "ashamed of our species", but didn't have the words for it. When I read this piece the next morning it put words to my emotions and strengthened my resolve to be part of the beautiful in the world and do all I can to overturn the evil.

Old ways

Well, it finally happened, one of the students went on a pass home and on the night before he returned he ran across some of his old drug friends and they had some heroin. He fell to the temptation and shot up the way he had done some thousand times before, but of course, this time he had been clean from the drug for months and his tolerance had reduced, so what was once a normal dose now became lethal; he died Sunday night of an overdose. It has been a sad time at the center as we all process his death in our individual ways.

Casabianca

(Young Casabianca, a boy about thirteen years old, son of the Admiral of the Orient, remained at his post (in the battle of the Nile) after the ship had taken fire and all the guns had been abandoned, and perished in the explosion of the vessel, when the flames had reached the powder.)

The boy stood on the burning deck,

Whence all but him had fled;

The flame that lit the battle’s wreck

Shone round him o’er the dead.

Yet beautiful and bright he stood,

As born to rule the storm;

A creature of heroic blood,

A proud though childlike form.

The flames rolled on; he would not go

Without his father’s word;

That father, faint in death below,

His voice no longer heard.

He called aloud, “Say, father, say,

If yet my task be done?”

He knew not that the chieftain lay

Unconscious of his son.

“Speak, father!” once again he cried,

“If I may yet be gone!”

And but the booming shots replied,

And fast the flames rolled on.

Upon his brow he felt their breath,

And in his waving hair,

And looked from that lone post of death

In still yet brave despair;

And shouted but once more aloud,

“My father! Must I stay!”

While o’ver him fast, through sail and shroud,

The wreathing fires made way.

They wrapt the ship in splendor wild,

They caught the flag on high,

And streamed above the gallant child,

Like banners in the sky.

There came a burst of thunder sound;

The boy – oh! Where was he?

Ask of the winds, that far around

With fragments strewed the sea ---

With shroud and mast and pennon fair,

That well had borne their part ---

But the noblest thing that perished there

Was that young faithful heart.

Felicia Hemans.

Faithfulness, it is of all the virtues to be sought, I'm sure that is why Jesus said, "Go and learn what this means..........faithfulness......."

Whenever I see Harriet Beecher Stowe is the author of a piece, I read it eagerly. Her book ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ was a mighty tool to help bring an end to slavery and her insights are so sharp, my admiration wells up whenever I read her words.

Now this piece on sorrow is penned when the horrors of slavery and the sorrow it brought, and still brings, caused her world to spin. She entered that world of sorrow and did battle there. Better for all the world she was in that “house of mourning”, and though principalities and powers had the world in the throes of evil, and she suffered much in battling those powers, she was used mightily by the “Infinite Sovereign”.

The battle rages on today with child trafficking, extreme poverty, substance abuse and oppression of every kind.

The good soldier called for these battle fields will doubtless find sorrow an important ingredient for preparation.

Sorrow

Sorrow is the great birth-agony of immortal powers, sorrow is the great searcher and revealer of hearts, the great test of truth; for Plato has wisely said, sorrow will not endure sophisms, -- all shams and unrealities melt in the fire of that awful furnace.

Sorrow reveals forces in ourselves we never dreamed of. * * * Behind every scale in music, the gayest and cheeriest, the grandest, the most triumphant, lies its dark relative minor; the notes are the same, but the change of a semitone changes all to gloom; -- all our gayest hours are tunes that have a modulation into these dreary keys ever possible; at any moment the key-note may be struck.

And yet sorrow is godlike, sorrow is grand and great, sorrow is wise and far-seeing. Our own instinctive valuations, woven into the laws of nature, show us that it is with no slavish dread, no cowardly shrinking we should approach her divine mysteries. What are the natures that cannot suffer? Who values them?

From the fat oyster, over which the silver tide rises and falls without one pulse upon its fleshy ear, to the hero who stands with quivering nerve parting with wife and child and home for country and God, all the way up is an ascending scale, marked by an increasing power to suffer; and when we look to the head of all being, up through principalities and powers and princedoms, with dazzling orders and celestial blazonry, to behold by what emblem the Infinite Sovereign chooses to reveal Himself, we behold in the midst of the throne, “a lamb as it had been slain.” Sorrow is divine. Sorrow is reigning on all the thrones of the universe, and the crown of all crowns has been one of thorns. There have been many books that treat of the mystery of sorrow, but only one that bids us glory in tribulation, and count it all joy when we fall into diverse afflictions, that so we may be associated with that great fellowship of suffering of which the Incarnate God is the head, and through which He is carrying a redemptive conflict to a glorious victory over evil. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. Even in the very making up of our physical nature, God puts suggestions of such a result.

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ There are victorious powers in our nature which are all the while working for us in our deepest pain. It is said that, after the sufferings of the rack, there ensues a period in which the simple repose from torture produces a beatific trance; it is the reaction of Nature, asserting the benignant intentions of her Creator. So, after great mental conflicts and agonies must come a reaction, and the Divine Spirit, co-working with our spirit, seizes the favorable moment, and interpenetrating natural laws with a celestial vitality, carries up the soul to joys beyond the ordinary possibilities of mortality. * * * * It is said that gardeners, sometimes, when they would bring a rose to richer flowering, deprive it, for a season, of light and moisture. Silent and dark it stands, dropping one fading leaf after another, and seeming to go down patiently to death. But when every leaf is dropped, and the plant stands stripped to the uttermost, a new life is even then working in the buds, from which shall spring a tender foliage and a brighter wealth of flowers.

So, often in celestial gardening, every leaf of earthly joy must drop, before a new and divine bloom visits the soul.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, photo by Bader Al Obaidly

Still water - clear skies

He that attends to his interior self, --

That has a heart, and keeps it, --- has a mind

That hungers, and supplies it, -- and who seeks

A social, not dissipated life, --

Has business; feels himself engaged to achieve

No unimportant, though a silent task,

A life all turbulence and noise may seem,

To him that leads it, wise and to be praised;

But wisdom is a pearl with most success

Sought in still water, and beneath clear skies.

William Cowper, photo by Sally Mann

"Not to be unhappy is unhappyness,

And misery to t'have known miserie;

For the best way unto discretion is

The way that leads us by adversitie;

And men are better shew'd what is amisse,

By th'expert finger of calamitie,

Than they can be with all that fortune brings,

Who never shewes them the true face of things."

It is natural to wish for the best of things for our children;

and we find ourselves hoping they will not struggle.

But as I have watched my children and grandchildren grow,

I see the truth in the above quote. Wish it were not so, but

depth of character and learning oneself, can not come in shelter.

Quote by Daniel, photo by John Fisher

The following quote is from a poem by James Whitcomb Riley, a contemporary of Mark Twain and known for his poems in "Hoosier Dialect". In this poem he is describing a man, Doc. Sifers, whom he looks up to above all others and this little piece describes Doc. Sifer's impression after meeting a man of great notoriety and prominence......

"I met a great man onc't," Doc says, "and shuk his hand," says he,

"And he come 'bout in one, I guess, o' disapp'intin' me ---

He talked so common-like, and brought his mind so cle'r in view

and simple-like, I purt nigh thought, 'I'm best man o' the two!"

It's a rare thing to meet someone whom the world gives great applause to and find them humble. In this meeting Doc. Sifers found this man so genuine and humble, and willing to talk and share that he not only felt the man's equal but the man was so humble he left feeling like he was the better man.

I have to admit I have met many men but most I have left feeling as though I were in some sort of contest of wits. But truly great men need not prove anything, their praise comes from others and they became great by learning from everyone they come in contact with.

Photo from the Internet

Character

I'm reading in my new old book by Samuel Smiles titled "Character". It is rich in illustrations and guidance about character. In the following piece he tells of Edward Freer, a French soldier and the power of his influence. It picks up with a narrative listing the many who died in the battle.

"In so doing it lost many brave men, and of two who fell I will speak.

The first, low in rank, Edward Freer, being but a lieutenant, was rich in honor, for he bore many scars and was young of days. He was only nineteen, and had seen more combats and sieges than he could count years. Slight in person, and of such surpassing and delicate beauty that the Spaniards often thought him a girl disguised in man’s clothing, he was yet so vigorous, so active, so brave, that the most daring and experienced veterans watched his looks on the field of battle, and would obey his slightest sign in the most difficult situations. His education was incomplete, yet were his natural powers so happy the keenest and best-furnished intellects shrunk from an encounter of wit. And all his thoughts and aspirations were proud and noble, indicating future greatness if destiny had so willed it."

I like this illustration of the power of character and Smiles goes on to say that – “Character tells in all conditions of life. The man of good character in a workshop will give the tone to his fellows, and elevate their entire aspirations. Thus Franklin, while a workman in London, is said to have reformed the manners of an entire workshop”.

I have certainly seen this play out over and over at Teen Challenge, where one man who is serious and devout sends ripples across the entire men’s population for good.

The above picture is of a young girl who just recently gained access to an education and is eager to help those who struggle as well.

Photo by Matt Blauer

"You insist," wrote Perthes to a friend, "on respect for learned men. I say, Amen! But, at the same time don't forget that largeness of mind, depth of thought, appreciation of the lofty, experience of the world, delicacy of manner, tact and energy in action, love of truth, honesty, and amiability ---

that all these may be wanting in a man who may yet be very learned." Samuel Smiles