December 22

Show me Thy ways, O Lord, teach me Thy paths.

THE true attitude of the devout mind always involves a certain quietism and self-relinquishment. Instead of pressing curiously forward, it sinks in meditation back, rests upon the moment as divine, and feels the very pavement beneath its feet as holy. It has neither any distance to go, nor any time to wait, in order to close in with the spirit of God; only to own and trust Him now and here,—to pass into His hand with simple faith, a disarmed and unreluctant captive to His will. . . . The spirit of highest heroism before men stands as a little child before the face of God. . . . The originality and greatness of such minds arise not from præternatural effort, but from unreserved surrender: they do not determine whither they will go, but only say, “yes,” whithersoever they are led: they do not fret to find the way or complain because they cannot trace it far, but, hand in hand with an everlasting Guide, set a foot of firm content on the next ground that He may show. Hence the quietude and evenness of all their ways,—a certain gentle and solitary air that seems too mild to give out so much power,—a half-mystic reserve whence strangely issues a rare organising and administrative faculty. For it is the great marvel of the Christian character, that the completest self-sacrifice gives the completest self-possession; that only the captive soul, which has flung her rights away, has all her powers free; and that simply to serve, under the instant orders of the living God, is the highest qualification to command.

JAMES MAR- TINEAU, Hours of Thought

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