Precept & Practice – APRIL 9 – Nicety of Moral View

Where, in the presiding genius of a home, taste and sympathy unite (and in their genuine forms they cannot be separated)- the intelligent feeling for moral beauty and the deep heart of domestic love, – with what ease, what mastery, what graceful disposition, do the seeming trivialities of existence fall into order, and drop a blessing as they take their place!   how do the hours steal away, unnoticed but by the precious fruits they leave!   and by the self-renunciations of affection, there comes a spontaneous adjustment of various wills;  and not an innocent pleasure is lost, nor a pure taste offended, nor a peculiar temper unconsidered;  and every day has its silent achievements of wisdom, and every night its retrospect of piety and love;  and the tranquil thoughts that, in the evening meditation, come down with the starlight, seem like the serenade of angels, bringing in melody the peace of God!   Wherever this picture is realised, it is not by microscopic solicitude of spirit, but by comprehension of mind, and enlargement of heart;  by that breadth and nicety of moral view which discerns everything in due proportion, and in avoiding an intense elaboration of trifles, has energy to spare for what is great;  in short, by a perception akin to that of God, whose providing frugality is on an infinite scale, vigilant alike in heaven and on earth; whose art colours a universe with beauty, and touches with its pencil the petals of a flower.

James Martinean

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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