September 24
Companions of the Way (Morning)Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity.
NO divine teacher would ever bid him sell all his goods and give to the poor, for it would be no sacrifice. He sits as loose among his great possessions as if he were a pilgrim with only a begging bowl to his credit. . . . Do you remember the story of the Italian poet's mistress, sitting at some fête in beautiful clothes, when a scaffolding broke and she was crushed to death? And then they found that beneath her silken robe she had worn sackcloth. The world pictures Carey with his power and his wealth, and notes only the purple and fine linen, but few can penetrate to that inner austerity which looks upon such things as degrees of the infinitely small. He is, if you like, a practical mystic—an iron hand to change the fate of nations, and all the while a soul lit by its own immortal dreams. . . . While he lives we, who are his friends, can never sink altogether into the commonplace. And when he dies we can write over him that most tremendous of all epitaphs—"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
JOHN BUCHAN
A CHARACTER