Precept & Practice – FEBRUARY 27 – Forgetting the Things that are Behind
It is wise to forget past errors. There is a kind of temperament which, when indulged, greatly hinders growth in real godliness. It is that rueful, repentant, self-accusing temper, which is always looking back, and microscopically observing how that which is done might have been better done. Something of this we ought to have. A Christian ought to feel always that he has partially failed, but that ought not to be the only feeling. Faith ought ever to be a sanguine, cheerful thing; and perhaps in practical life we could not give a better account of faith than by saying, that it is, amidst much failure, having the heart to try again. Our best deeds are marked by imperfection; but if they really were our best, ‘forget the things that are behind’ – we shall do better next time.
The Reverend F. W. Robertson
I would go near Thee – but I cannot press
Into Thy Presence – it helps not to presume.
Thy doors are deeds; the handles are their doings.
He whose day – life is obedient righteousness, Who, after failure or a poor success,
Rises up, stronger effort yet renewing –
He finds Thee, Lord, at length in his own common room.
George MacDonald
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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice
The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.
The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;- with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;- with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.
CONSTANCE M. WHISHAW
Suffolk Vicar 