From the Daybook of John Stuart Blackie.

White Ribbon, Volume 7, Issue 79, 1 December 1901, Page 8

From the Daybook of John Stuart Blackie.

A conscientious observance of th; Sabbath brings a double blessing—elease from the pressure of outward business, and escape from the tyranny of a man s own strength.

The efficacy of prayer is not so much to influence the divine counsels as to consecrate human purposes.

All things in Nature tend to excess. She is the exuberant producer, leaving to us the function to prune wisely, but not to extirpate nor to stunt. That is morality.

No strong passion tolerates contradiction. Argue against a man s creed, and he calls you a heretic ; dispute the beauty >f Bis sweetheart, and he calls you bin d. ijsti:t is the virtue of a good citizen ;

generosity, of a gentleman ; self-sacri-fice, of a hero and a Christian.

The finite mind was n ver inide to take an exact measure of the Infinite; and as often as it has attempted to do so, under cover of sounding orthodoxy, it can only make a blind plunge into the aosurd and the ridiculous.)

Religion, founded on intelligent reverence, is venerable in every shape ; on fear, is always contemptible; when delighting ;n multiplied ceremonies and mannerisms, ridiculous.

Show me Chri. t as He lived and moved, The wonder of all men ; In word and deed all perfect proved, fhou mak’st me Christian then ; Hut lace Him in a cramping creed, A 8 many creeds th»re be, I'hank God, if thus He serve’ y<. u>’ need, No Christ He is for me.

Toleration is of two kinds, positive and negative. Positive toleration is the daughter of charity; negative toleration the offspring of indifference. The one is a rare and difficult virtue, the other an accidental abstinence from evil.

Virtue is the energising force of an intelligent be : ng, under the inspiration of Love and the guidance of Reason , producing a harmony between his special capabilities and the sphere of the social world to which he belongs.

The best image that 1 know of a truly philosophical mind are the animals mentioned in Revelation (iv. 6) full of eyes before and behind— i.e ., seeing all round ; whereas the vulgar, unschooled mind has only one eye, and with that sees only what lies directly under its nose.

The opinions of a genuine thinker must always be in advance of the age to which he belongs, for the opinions of the great masses of men are derived from tradition and confirmed by habit, whereas the opinions of a thinker are produced from an ideal and regulated by r< ason.

I can live without health, I can live without creeds or churches, without V\ n g or Tory, wi bout all that distinguishes a gentleman from a man ; but two things I cannot live without! Truth an 1 love. The want of truth blinds me, the want of love freezes me, and I die.

There are many heresies in the world, but there is no heresy like truth suddenly blazed into the face of a generation long accustomed to see things not in their natural dimensions, but only as refracted and distorted by passing through a false medium.

Do- fit what you will, inside and out, Before, behind, and round about W'se doubt is good for me and you ; Doubt tries the false, and stamps the true But while you bre the God’s blissful air, Name not that godless word, Despair.

When we condemn other people we generally mean indirectly to tlatter ourselves.

Faith in man is a duty as well as aith in God ; in fact our general conluct every day in our intercourse with our fellow-beings depends at every turn in our faith in our feliow-lieings. When that faith ceases, society ceases with it, and a rule not of men with moral natures, but of tigers and foxes n the guise of men, commences with it.

The chief end of man is victory over ecurrent evil through intelligent energy inspired by love.

A lady is a woman made perfect in dignity, grace, goodness, intelligence, polish and usages of society, always vithout any loss of naturalness and -simplicity on the one hand and of energy and force on the other.

Love as many persons and as many creatures as you possibly can. Love is ihe only power by which you can make yourself rich in a moral world. Love especially all innocent, good, and beautiful things. Love flowers, love children, love above all things good ind chaste women ; them you cannot love too much ; their love will always benefit you, never do you harm.

It is always more easy to gain a man's heart than to keep it. It is gained by the charm of the moment, it is kept by the wisdom of the life.

Difficulties are the time test of greatness. Cowards shrink from them, Lois bungle them, wise men conquer them. • I sing a soug when I am glad, Song giv„*« sweet l reath to gladness ; And with sweet sung, when 1 am sad, 1 take the sting from sadness.