QUIET HOUR

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 22 August 1925, Page 18

QUIET HOUR

SMALL THINGS. We ought to cherish the small virtues wlueU grow at the loot of' the CVoiA*, for they are watered with the blood of the teon of God. These virtues are humility , patience, sweet temper, kindness, lieiptillness to our neighbours, graeiotiisimss, goodwill, heartiness, sympathy, readiness to forgive, (simplicity, truthfulness, and others like them. The virtues are like the violets which like the coolness of the (shade, which are fed with dew, land which, though they have no brilliancy, Cease not to shed fragrance around. There are great virtues oil the top of the Gross which have great splendour, especially when they are accompanied with love; such are wisdom, justice, : ze.al, liberality, and such like; land everyone wishes to have these virtues because they are the most esteemed and make us the most thought of. But we should not judge of the greatness or littleness of a virtue by that which ‘it appears to the outward eye; for a virtue that is ve.y small in .appearance may be practised with great love to God, while one that is more shining •may go along with very little love; ■yet this is the measure of their true value before God. 1 put more value on prayer, which is the torch of all the virtues; on devotion, which consecrates all our actions to the .service of God; ■on humility, winch makes us have a low esteem of ourselves and of our •actions; on sweet temper, which makes : u.s kind to ail the world ;on patience, ivliich makes ns bear all things; then on heroism, magnanimity, liberality, ■virtues which do not cover so much ■ground, and are more seldom in use. And these more splendid virtues are a. little dangerous, because their brilliancy gives more occasion lor vain glory, which is the true poison of all the virtues. —S. Francis de Sales. There is no action .so slight or so im©an but it may be done to a great purpose and enabled thereby, nor is lauy purpose so great but that it may be helped much, most especially the chief of all purposes, the pleasing of God. His is not the finest authority or intelligence which cannot be trpubled ■with small things. there is nothing iso email but that we may honour God by asking His guidance of it, or in;sulf Him by taking it into our own ■hands.—Buskin.

Exactness in little duties is wonderful source of cheerfulness. —F. W. Faber.

It matters nothing what the particular duties are to which the individual .is called —how minute or obscure in their outward form. Greatness in God’s sight- lies not in the exLent of the sphere which is filled, or of the effect which is produced, but altogether in the power of virtue in the soul, in the energy with whip God’s will iii chosen, with which trial is born and goodness loved and purs ued. —Ohann i ng.

TRUTH. This above lall, to thine own-self he true, ■And, it must follow, as the night the day. Thou cans’* not be false to any man. —Shakespeare. (Think truly, and thy thoughts Shall the world’s famine feed; Speak truly, and each word of thine ■ Shall ibe a fruitful seed; Live truly, and thy life i dual I be A great and noble creed. —Bonar.

Every temptation to evil resisted •and overcome, every sacrifice of worldly good or pleasure for conscience ■sake, makes the soul purer and .stronger. _ It is of vast importance whether jthe soul, which is to live forever, is a Itruithful, pure laud noble* soul, made Strong through the conquest of many jantl great temptations; with affections (set upon all that is good and beautiful; (with conscience that clearly sees the idlft'erence between right and wrong, and a firm will, resolute to chase the (right.—Martineau. \ 1 wish to be alive to all the little low .and dark motives which are conihinrtally coming into the soul, and which I believe, if they are not markled and continually carried up to a 'higher power*to be prayed away, are ever liable to settle there, and thence (to coma out in some questionable and deceitful action. Truth, real inwiard truth, is the rarest., I think, of all things. Some little petty subterfuge, 'some verbal or acted dishonesty, we la-re continually surprised into; and ■against this neither a high ©ode of honour nor an exact profession of religion is much, pieserviation. Continued intercourse with the Father of 'Light, revealing our own darkness to •us is, I am quite sure, the one sa.feiruiiM’d, and a, Christian who should lose this is in more danger of situnfMing (than an infidel. —F. D. Maurice. Falsehood i.s ,so easy, truth so diffibult. Examine your words well, and you will find that even when von have no motive to be false, it is a very bard (tiling to say the exact truth, even lab out your own immediate feelings, inuc-li harder than to say something oibout them which is not the exact (truth.—George Eliott. ' GROWTH. You should intake a special point of 'asking Gocl every morning to give you, (before all else, that true spirit of meekness, which Me would have Has children possess. ■ You must also make a firm resolution to practise yourself in this virtue, especially in your intercourse with three persons to whom you chiefly owe it. You . must make it your main object to conquer yourself in this mattei ; call it to mind a hundred times during the day, commending vour efforts to God. It seems to me that, no more than this is needed in order to .subject, your soul entirely to His will, (and then you will become 'more gentle day by day, trusting wholly in. His goodness. You will be very happy, my dearest child, if you ‘can do this, for God will dwell in your 'heart, and. where He reigns all is peace. Bur if yon should fail, do not •be disheartened,' but rise up and go on 'again as though jmi had not fallen. — •■?. Francis de Sales.

We have only to ho patient, to pray, and do His wifi, according to our present light and strength, and the growth bf the soul will go on. The plant gl'Oives in the mist .and under clouds as •truly ias under sunshine. So does the heavenly principle within. —Chaniii.ng. STEPPING STONES.

Who are the men who succeed in, a noble manner? They are those who •can rise out of failure and shake it •off; who. when they err, accept their error, land say, “Now I know where I am weak, that I will never do again” ; who -look their .sin straight in the face and say, “It i.si bad and vile, but it can •be redeemed! by effort, lived down by perseverance in good”; who do not despair, and bide -their faces in a cowardly remorse; who make their mistakes, their failures, the steppingstones to their success. —Hop-fo-rd ■Brooke.

• Heroic daring is the true success.— F. B. Browning: ■ Failure after long perseverance is •much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure. —George Eliott.