| In His Steps |
Chapter 11 |
Page 2 |
The old monks were wrong in their idea of Christian living when they supposed that they could reach a higher state of holiness by withdrawing from men and dwelling alone. God’s plan is to set the solitary in families rather than to separate families into solitariness. We all need to be sometimes alone. There should be hours when we enter into our closet and shut the door that we may look in upon our own heart and hold communion with God; but the closet is not to be our abiding place.
“Hark, hark! A voice amid the quiet intense!
It is thy duty waiting thee without.
Rise from thy knees in hope, the half of doubt;
A hand doth pull thee: it is Providence:
Open thy door straightway and get thee hence;
Go forth into the tumult and the shout;
Work, love, with workers, lovers, all about.
Of noise alone is born the inward sense
Of silence, and from action springs alone
The inward knowledge of true love and faith.”
We owe duties to others. To live only for one’s self, though the aspiration be purely for holiness, is contrary to the spirit of true discipleship. Our duties to others are as manifold and as diversified as the varying phases and conditions of life’s reciprocal relations. We are debtors to all men, far and near. God wants us on the earth to fulfill these duties. We are to serve him not by pure devotion apart from men, but in relations. Those who leave society and flee to the cloister simply run away from their chief mission. We are not left in this world after conversion merely to pray and praise; God wants us to be useful, to do his work, to run his errands, to help his needy, suffering ones, to train children for his service, to fight his battles.
“What are we set on earth for? Say to toil,
Nor seek to leave thy tending of the vines
For all the heat o’ the day till it declines,
And death’s mild curfew shall from work assoil.
God did anoint thee with his odorous oil
To wrestle, not to reign…So others shall
Take patience, labor, to their heart and thy brave cheer,
And God’s grace fructify through thee to all.
The least flower with a brimming cup may stand
And share its dewdrop with another near.”
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