Precept & Practice – APRIL 13 – A Centre of Deep Repose

At Dudson there was no rushing after anything, either worldly or intellectual.   It was a home of constant activity, issuing from, and retiring to, a centre of deep repose.   There was an earnest application of excellent sense to the daily duties of life, to the minutest courtesy and kindness, as well as to the real interests of others.

Everything great and everything little seemed done in the same spirit, and with the same degree of fidelity, because it was the will of God;  and that which could not be traced to His will was not undertaken at all.   Nothing at Dudson was esteemed too little to be cared for, and nothing too great to be undertaken at the command of God;  and for this they daily exercised their mental and bodily powers on the things around them;  knowing that our Lord thoroughly furnishes each of His soldiers for his work, and places before each the task he has to do.

M. A. Schimmelpenninck

Would we codify the laws that should reign in households, and whose daily transgression annoys and mortifies us, and degrades our household life, we must learn to adorn every day with sacrifices.   Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.   Temperance, courage, love are made up of the same jewels.   Listen to every prompting of honour.

R. W. Emerson

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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