No self interest

“ The common people understand not many excellent virtues; the lowest virtues draw praise from them, the middle virtues work in them astonishment or admiration, but of the highest virtues they have no sense or perceiving at all.” Bacon

Here in the annotations by Richard Whately, D.D. are some examples of the higher virtues—

“He will do good without calculating upon much gratitude; yet will be grateful, with most generous ardor himself. To take any unfair advantages, or even to take all fair ones—to press his rights to the utmost---- to press close to the limits of what is wrong, and anxiously consider whether he may be allowed to do this, or omit that,-- he disdains, and would feel degraded by it. Of the virtues of such a man as this, the vulgar have indeed no perception.”

Of all the influences of Christianity that reached deep within me when examining the faith it was the countless acts of goodness, done, not out of compulsion, fear, guilt or even duty, but rather by a grace moving people to act, not out of self interest but rather from a joy of doing as Jesus did, loving, touching, giving, helping. Knowing He dwells in goodness, not for gain, but because His kingdom is of such. Such a beautiful thing to give, expecting nothing in return, but because we value others regardless of their faults or shortcomings.

When the hearts cry is, “Does no one care? Will no one come?” And to be moved by God to be the vehicle of his love and say, “Yes, I am here.”
Such as I have, I will give you; I may not have gold, but I can give you counsel, I may not be able to relieve your need, but I can relieve your sadness; I cannot cure you, but I can comfort you; I cannot take away your poverty, but I can ease your spirit Not for glory, or return payment, without strings attached, no agenda, but because Jesus loves you and because he does, I sense your need and want to do such as I can.

It is true, I had no idea or concept of the purity of giving for the good in it without looking for reciprocation. What a breath of fresh air, truly the beauty of holiness.

A luxury in tears?

"You get many soft, susceptible, sentimental spirits to weep over any scene or tale of woe,
but it is not those who will weep the readiest over the sorrow who will do the most to relieve it.
Sympathy has its own selfishness; there is a luxury in the tears that it loves idly to indulge.
Tears will fill the eye--should fill the eye, but the hand of active help will brush them away, that the eye may see more clearly what the hand has to do." .....William Hanna

I can relate to this quote. I think as a Christian, our heart becomes tender and the sentimental spirits, and tears that well, are emotions planned by God. But this emotion is to be examined to see if in it there is an opportunity for change, either in ourselves or to the sufferer. In my experience, if the examination does not begin during the moment, time washes away what perhaps was an opportunity.

Led by a child

When I reached the age when grandchildren began to come, I was inspired in many ways by them. Older, somewhat wiser, I was drawn into the life of the child in a fresh new way. Life is kind of a blur when you begin rearing your own children but by the time grandchildren come along you have had time to season some and your nervous system allows you to enjoy what once only sped by.
I was inspired to write a few poems and the following is one I find some merit in, and it leads to the next piece.

Led By A Child

The purity of children, God’s most precious gift;
When I behold its beauty, I’m aware of the drift
I’ve taken from virtue, in its grandest form,
It’s God’s reminder of what will be the norm
In the Kingdom Eternal, where the saints will be filed
Before the throne, and lead by a child.

It’s been said that infancy is a Messiah that pleads
Fallen man to aspire, more than all of the creeds,
And God with His spirit, each son would adorn
The innocence of children, holiness reborn.

Words fail to express, like the beauty of a rose,
The impression of innocence on someone who knows,
His life has been stained, and darkened inside,
When from the bosom of God, he ceased to abide.
So God has planned each birth to begin,
His display of purity, to draw us back again.

Having written that, when I came across the following poem with a similar theme it struck home….

“This sweet child which hath climbed upon my knee,
This amber-haired, four summered little maid,
With her unconscious beauty, troubleth,
With her low prattle maketh me afraid.

Ah, darling! When you cling and nestle so
You hurt me tho’ you do not see me cry,
Nor hear the bitterness with which I sigh
For the dead babe I killed so long ago.
I tremble at the touch of your caress;
I am not worthy of your innocent faith;
I who, with whetted knives of worldliness,
Did put my own child-heartedness to death;
Beside whose grave I pace forever more.
Like desolation on a shipwrecked shore.

There is no little child within me now,
To sing back to the thrushes, to leap up
When June winds kiss me, when an apple-bough
Laughs into blossoms, or a butter-cup
Plays with the sunshine, or violet
Dances in the glad dew. Alas, alas!
The meaning of the daisies in the grass
I have forgotten; and if my cheeks are wet,
It is not with the blitheness of a child,
But with the bitter sorrow of sad-years.
O, moaning life, with life irreconciled!
O, backward-looking thought, O, pain,
O, tears!

For me there is not any silver sound
Of rhythmic wonders springing from the ground.
Woe worth the knowledge and the bookish lore
Which makes men mummies, weighs out every grain
Of that which was miraculous before,
And sneers the heart down with the scoffing brain.
Woe worth the peering analytic days
That dry the tender juices in the breast
And put the thunders of the Lord to test,
So that no marvel must be, and no praise,
Nor any God except necessity.

What can ye give my poor starved life, in lieu
Of this dead cherub which I slew for you?
Take back your doubtful wisdom and renew
My early foolish freshness of the dunce,
Whose simple instincts guessed the Heavens at once.” Richard Realf

I rented a great movie the other night titled "Born in the Brothels". It is a moving, inspiring movie about a woman who went into the red light district of Calcutta India to film and tell the story of women there. During her time there she met and fell in love with the children born of the prostitutes. She then began sharing with them her talent of photography. As the story unfolds, I became captivated by the undying spirit of the children, not to mention their creativity, even in the worst circumstances on earth. I think it should be a 'must see' by all. I showed it to Carissa and Jordan, who loved it as well. There are only two parts where Indian women are scolding children in the most horrid language, trust me you can't imagine it, that is not fit for anyone, much less children, thankfully that part is in subtitles and can easily be skipped. The movie is in English, but when an Indian person speaks that doesn't know English, they put in sub-tiles.
I watched it twice and enjoyed it more the second time.

Preach Jesus

There are many sermons today on many things from pyscho-babble, name it and claim it, watered down religion and on it goes. I guess that's why I like T.De Witt Talmage; he preaches Jesus in all His glory. This excerpt from a sermon titled "Sunset" is based on the scripture
"Abide with us, for it is toward evening"
For the flavor, I'll include the beginning and the end.

"It is a dismal thing to be getting old without the rejuvenating influence of religion. When we step on the down grade of life and see that it dips to the verge of the cold river, we want to behold some one near who will help us across it. When the sight loses its power to glance and gather up, we need the faith that can illumine. When we feel the failure of the ear, we need the clear tones of that voice which in olden times broke up the silence of the deep with cadences of mercy. When the axe-men of death hew down whole forests of strength and beauty around us and we are left in solitude, we need the dove of divine mercy to sing in our branches. When the shadows begin to fall and we feel that the day is far spent, we need most of all to supplicate the strong, beneficent Jesus in the prayer of the villagers, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening....."

"Trouble is an apothecary that mixes a great many draughts, bitter, and sour and nauseous, and you must drink some one of them. Trouble puts up a great many packs, and you must carry some one of them. There is no sandal so thick and well adjusted but some thorn will strike through it. There is no sound so sweet but the undertakers screw-driver grates through it.
In this swift shuttle of the heart some of the threads must break. The journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus will soon be ended. Our Bible, our common-sense, our observation reiterates in tones that we can not mistake, and ought not to disregard; it is toward evening.
Oh, then, for Jesus to abide with us! He sweetens the cup. He extracts the thorn. He wipes the tear. He hushes the tempest. He soothes the soul that flies to Him for shelter. Let the night swoop and the euroclydon toss the sea. Let the thunders roar--- soon all will be well. Christ in the ship to soothe his friends. Christ on the sea to stop its tumult. Christ in the grave to scatter darkness. Christ in the heavens to lead the way. Blessed all such. His arms will inclose them.
If earthly estate take wings, He will be an incorruptible treasure. If friends die, He will be their resurrection. Standing with us in the morning of your joy, and in the noonday of our prosperity.
He will not forsake us when the luster has faded, and it is toward evening."

"Love is clutched at in preference to the laborious process of changing from within."
Karen Horney.

I think this may be one of the most common faults of youth. We fail in relationships, sometimes over and over again, but instead of looking within and confronting our faults, we "fall in love" again, caught up in the universal acceptance that comes with a romantic flurry.

"We learn our virtues from the friends who love us, our faults from the enemy who hates us.
We can not easily discover our real character from a friend, He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection." Jean Paul Richter

"The greatest object in the universe, says a certain philosopher, is a good man struggling with adversity"; yet there is still a greater,
which is the good man that comes to relieve it. Oliver Goldsmith

I think the best word picture I ever saw of this is in the movie "Bear" where the huge male grizzly comes to the rescue of the cub assaulted by a cougar.

Drunk with Fancy and mad with opinion

Every man who, by his opinion, is engaged against authority, should do well to study his doubtful opinion less, and humility and obedience more. But you say, that this concerns not me; for my disagreeing is not in a doubtful matter, but I am sure I am in the right; there are no ifs and ands in my case. Well, it may be so; but were it not better that you did doubt? “ A wise man feareth,” saith Solomon,
“ And departeth from evil; but a fool rageth and is confident:” and the difference between a learned man and a novice is this, that the young fellow crieth out,
“I am sure it is so;” the better learned answers “Possibly it may, and peradventure it is so, but I pray inquire:” “He is the best judge that conjectures the best,” not he that is most confident; for as Xenophanes said wisely, “ Man does but conjecture, but God only knows.” It is no disparagement to a wise man to learn, and, by suspecting the fallibility of things, and his own aptness to mistake,-- to walk prudently and safely, with an eye to God, and an ear open to his superior. Some men are drunk with fancy, and mad with opinion. Who believes more strongly than boys? Who are so hard to be persuaded as fools? And who so readily suspect their teachers as they who are governed by chance, and know not the intrinsic measures of good and evil. “It is a little learning and not enough, that makes men conclude hastily.” And clap fast hold on the conclusion, before they have well weighed the premises; but experience and humility would teach us modesty and fear.” Jeremy Taylor

I like this piece because I see so much of myself in it, especially when I was young. Not that I don't fall prey to "drunken fancy and mad opinions" still. But with age and being the fool one to many times, I have learned to slow it down a bit and listen more.

Illiterate Phantasms

"There is in every righteous person, a new vital principle; the Spirit of grace is the Spirit of wisdom, and teaches us by secret inspirations, by proper arguments, by actual persuasions, by personal applications, by effects and energies; and as the soul of a man is the cause of all his vital operations, so is the Spirit of God the life of that life, and the cause of all actions and productions spiritual: and the consequences of this is what St. John tells us of, “Ye have received the unction from above, and that anointing teacheth you all things:” All things of some one kind; that is, certainly—all things that pertain to life and godliness; all that by which a man is wise and happy…..
Without this principle, divers fanatics, some among us, misunderstanding, look for new revelations, and expect to be conducted by ecstasy, and will not pray but in a transfiguration, and live upon raptures and extravagant expectations, and separate themselves, from the conversations of men, by affections, by new measures and singularities, and destroy order, and despise government, and live upon illiterate phantasms and ignorant discourses." Jeremy Taylor

I like this piece because of the balance I get from it. The first part speaks to the moving of the Holy Spirit by His "secret inspirations, proper arguments, (He deals with the issues of highest priority and speaks clearly) actual persuasions, and personal application", and wraps it up in highly motivating "energies". But when I was a young Christian I was easily misled sometimes by "new revelations"wraped in clouds and high level spirituality by those that presented themselves as dining on raptures and ecstasy. Now those that know me know I am open to and greedy for, the wonders of God and His mystical ways. That being said, had it not been for bread and butter teachings I should have long since been lost in a sea of confusion.

"If sin hath gotten the power of any one of us, consider in what degree the sin hath prevailed;
if but a little, the battle will be more easy, and the victory more certain; but then be sure to do it thoroughly, because there is not much to be done; but if sin hath prevailed greatly, then indeed you have very much to do; therefore begin betimes, and defer not this work, till old age shall make it extremely difficult, or death shall make it impossible."
Jeremy Taylor

Charity, admits no excess but error.

We are all familiar with the passage where Jesus tells the disciples to sell all that they have and give to the poor. I like the following interpretation by Bacon....
"Sell all that thou hast, and give it to the poor, and follow me"--- that is, sell not all thou hast, except thou come and follow me-- that is, except thou have a vocation wherein thou mayest do as much good with little means as with great-- for otherwise, in feeding the streams, thou driest the fountains.

Comments on " charity, admits no excess but error" by Whately.

Bacon is speaking here of what is now called benevolence and his remark is very just, that it admits of no excess in quantity, though it may be misdirected and erroneous. For if your liberality be such as to reduce your family to poverty, or-- like the killing of the hen that laid golden eggs-- such as to put it out of your power hereafter to be liberal at all; or if it be bestowed on the undeserving; this is rather to be accounted an unwise and misdirected benevolence than an excess of it in quantity.....
For there can be no doubt that careless, indiscriminate alms-giving does far more harm than good; since it encourages idleness and improvidence, and also imposture. If you give freely to ragged and filthy street beggars, you are in fact hiring people to dress themselves in filthy rags, and go about begging with fictitious tales of distress. If, on the contrary, you carefully inquire for, and relieve, honest and industrious persons who have fallen into distress through unavoidable misfortune, you are not only doing good to those objects, but also holding out an encouragement generally to honest industry.
You may, however, meet with persons who say, "as long as it is my intention to relieve real distress, my charity is equally virtuous, though the tale told me may be a false one. The imposter alone is to be blamed who told it to me; I acted on what he said; and if that is untrue, the fault is his and not mine."
Now, this is a fair plea, if any one is deceived after making a careful inquiry; but if he has not taken the trouble to do this, regarding it as no concern of his, you might ask him how he would act and judge in a case where he is thoroughly in earnest , that is, where his own interest is concerned. Suppose he employed a steward or other agent to buy for him a house, or a horse, or any other article, and this agent paid an exorbitant price for what was really worth little or nothing, giving just the same kind of excuse for allowing his employer to be thus cheated; saying,
'I made no careful inquiries, but took the seller's word; and his being a liar and a cheat, is his fault, and not mine;' the employer would doubtless reply, 'the seller indeed is to be condemned for cheating; but so are you, for your carelessness of my interests. His being greatly in fault does not clear you; and your merely intending to do what was right, is no excuse for your not taking pains to gain right information.'

I like and agree with what is being said here, but there are times when careful inquiry is impossible and in those circumstances I react on emotion, a tugging, a judgment or some other difficult to describe feeling.

Atheists, ever handling holy things, but without feelings....

Love and Passion

I've been reading an essay by Bacon on Love. It covers many aspects but I'll just share some on passion and wanton love.

"...As if man, made for the contemplation of heaven, and all nobel objects, should do nothing but kneel before a little idol, and make himself subject, though not of the mouth (as beasts are), yet of the eye, which was given him for higher purposes."

when I read that, the part that stuck out to me is "makes himself subject.... of the eye"
In the previous essay on Envy, he made a statement, that to me, dovetails with this one.

"A man that is busy and inquisitive is commonly envious; for to know much of other men's matters cannot be because all that ado may concern his own estate; therefore it must needs be that he taketh a kind of play-pleasure in looking upon the fortunes of others; neither can he that mindeth but his own business find much matter for envy; for envy is a gadding passion, and walketh the streets, and doth not keep home...."

In the context of "wanton love" the connection I saw was in--" being subject to the eye, and taking a play-pleasure in looking on others, with a gadding passion which walketh the streets and doth not keep home."

There was another line I liked and lived regarding passion;-- "This passion hath its floods in the very times of weakness, which are great prosperity and great adversity."

That made me think of times when people are going through marital problems, or teens that are dealing with serious issues etc., find what they think to be love, or passion, that comes in like a flood during these times of weakness. It seems the antidote but often ends as the poison.
Can you relate?

And lastly, "Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it."

Mercy

" We may imitate the Diety in all His moral attributes, but mercy is the only one in which we can pretend to equal him. -- We cannot, indeed, give like God, but surely we may forgive like him."
Sterne.

Gay colors

" If a woman wears gay colors, rouge and a startling hat, a man hestitates to take her out. If she wears a little turban and a tailored suit he takes her out and stares all evening at a woman in gay colors, rouge and a startling hat!" -- Baltimore Beacon.

100 years ago what was considered bold has changed, but the heart of man is the same.
Is there any hope for us?

"Witching Time"

“It is now the very witching time of night; when churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood and do such business as the bitter day would quake to look on!” – Shakespeare.

Now that you have read this graphic quote, and I'm curious to know what it brings to your mind; it reminded me first of the warning I gave to someone that kept late hours and slept long into the day. I cautioned them that after about 11:00 at night it is rare that much good is done. And on looking at my life, if I were able to erase all the transgressions committed after eleven, my condition would be much improved. Then I began to try and apply this as a metaphor for the souls condition. What do you think?

Now the opposite direction, I could not recall the name the Puritans give for Midnight revelations, but the following quote follows their thought.
“ This dead of midnight is the noon of thought, and wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.” -- Anna L. Barbauld.

Christian Unity?

While visiting Eric, Christian asked why there are so many denominations. When I read this piece I thought it brought some light to his question.

Christian Unity
“It is very important to have a clear notion of the nature of the Christian unity spoken of in the Scriptures, and to understand in what this ‘true bond of unity’ consists, so often alluded to and earnestly dwelt on by our Sacred Writers.
The unity they speak of does not mean agreement in doctrine, nor yet concord and mutual good will; though these are strongly insisted on by the apostles. Nor, again, does it mean that all Christians belong, or ought to belong to some one society on earth. This is what the apostles never aimed at, and what never was actually the state of things, from the time of Jerusalem. The Church is undoubtedly one, and so is the human race one; but not as a society or community, for, as such, it is only one when considered as to its future existence. The teaching of Scripture clearly is, that believers on earth are part of a great society (church or congregation) of which the Head is in heaven, and of which many of the members only ‘live unto God’, or exist in his counsels,-- some having long since departed, and some being not yet born. The universal Church of Christ may therefore be said to be One in reference to HIM, its supreme Head in heaven; but it is not one community on earth. And even so the human race is one in respect of the One Creator and Governor; but this does not make it one family or one state. And though all men are bound to live in peace, and to be kindly disposed towards every fellow creature, and all bound to agree in thinking and doing whatever is right, yet they are not at all bound to live under one single government, extending over the whole world. Nor, again, are all nations bound to have the same form of government, regal or republican, etc. That is a matter left to their discretion. But all are bound to do their best to promote the great objects from which all government is instituted, -- good order, justice, and public prosperity.
And even so the Apostles founded Christian churches, all based on the same principles, all sharing common privileges,-- ‘One Lord, one faith, one baptism,’ – and all having the same object in view, but all quite independent of each other. And while, by the inspiration of Him who knew what was in Man, they delineated those Christian principles which Man could not have devised for himself, each Church has been left, by the same divine foresight, to make the application of those principles in its symbols, its forms of worship, and its ecclesiastical regulations; and, while steering its course by the chart and compass which his holy Word supplies, to regulate for itself the sails and rudder, according to the winds and currents it may meet with.
Now I have little doubt that the sort of variation resulting from this independence and freedom, so far from breaking the bond, is the best preservative of it. A number of neighboring families, living in perfect unity, will be thrown into discord as soon as you compel them to form one family, and to observe in things intrinsically indifferent, the same rules. One, for instance, likes early hours, and another late; one likes the windows open, and another shut; and thus, by being brought too close together, they are driven into ill-will, by one being perpetually forced to give way to another. Of this character were the disputations which arose about church music, the posture of the communicants, the colors of a ministers dress, the time of keeping Easter, etc.” Richard Whately, D.D.

"What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer."

While visiting Eric, we went to a book store and I beat him, by a hairs-breadth, to a book on Bacon’s Essays annotated by Richard Whately, D.D. Archbishop of Dublin, who I have never heard of but really like his thoughts. The previous post came from that book. This piece I thought I’d share, is on truth.

“There is not necessarily any moral virtue in receiving truth; for it may happen that our interest, or our wishes, are in the same direction; or it may be forced upon us by evidence as irresistible as that of a mathematical demonstration. The virtue consists in being a sincere votary of Truth;-- what our Lord calls being ‘of the Truth,’ – rejecting ‘the hidden things of dishonesty,’ and carefully guarding against every undue bias. Every one wishes to have Truth on his side; but it is not every one that sincerely wishes to be on the side of Truth.”

I find this somewhat troubling because I see in myself a love for Truth and knowledge, a hunger for the mysteries of God, but the living up to those is sadly lacking.
Acts 17:21
All the Athenians and the foreigners who live there, spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.

There may be Athenian blood in me. I would be happy to apply one tenth of what I read, truth is I would do well to apply one tenth of what I learned in my first year as a christian.
I hope it's like nutritious food, it keeps you from disease but only by continual consumption.
That being said, when a season comes where I have no appetite, then I know I'm in peril.

Ichmeumonflies

Most persons know that every butterfly (the Greek name for which, it is remarkable, is the same that signifies also the Soul,- Psyche ) comes from a caterpillar or larvae. The last name which signifies literally a mask, was introduced by Linnaeus, because the caterpillar is a kind of outward covering, or disguise of the future butterfly within. For it has been ascertained by curious microscopic examination, that a distinct butterfly, only undeveloped and not full-grown, is contained within the body of the caterpillar; that this latter has its own organs of digestion, respiration, etc. suitable to its larva-life, quite distinct from and independent of the future butterfly which it encloses. When the proper period arrives, and the life of the insect, in this its first stage, is to close, it becomes what is called a pupa, enclosed in a chrysalis or cocoon and lies torpid for a time within this natural coffin, from which it issues, at the proper period, as a perfect butterfly.
But sometimes this process is marred. There is a numerous tribe of insects well known to naturalists, called Ichmeumonflies; which in their larva-state are parasitical; that is, inhabit, and feed on, other larvae. The fly being provided with a long sharp sting, which is in fact an ovipositor (egg layer) pierces with this the body of a caterpillar in several places, and deposits her eggs, which are there hatched, and feed, as larvae on the inward parts of their victim. A most wonderful circumstance connected with this process is that a caterpillar which has been thus attached goes on feeding, and apparently thriving quite as well, during the whole of its larva-life, as those that have escaped. For, by a wonderful provision of instinct, the ichneumon-larvae within do not injure any of the organs of the larva, but feed only on the future butterfly enclosed within it. And consequently, it is hardly possible to distinguish a caterpillar which has these enemies within it from those that are untouched.--- But when the period arrives for the close of the larva-life, the difference appears…..Of the unfortunate caterpillar that has been preyed upon, nothing remains but an empty skin. The hidden butterfly has been secretly consumed.
Now is there not something analogous to this wonderful phenomenon, in the condition of some of our race? May not, a man have a kind of secret enemy within his own bosom, destroying his soul—Psyche,--- though without interfering with his well-being during the present stage of his existence; and whose presence may never be detected till the time arrives when the last great change should take place?