Precept and Practice – JULY 14 – Goodness
It is always a means of grace to be in contact with so pure and genuine a nature, transparent, guileless, and unselfish. As I rub my way on in the journey of life, I find that goodness, real and unpretending, is the one thing of which one never wearies.
– Even genius sometimes fatigues you, and talent and learning overweight you – but unaffected goodness is always fresh, always lives to rebuke your weaknesses and encourage your aspirations.
W. S.
Such was our friend, formed on the good old plan –
A true and brave and downright honest man!
Loathing pretence, he did with cheerful wise What others talked of while their hands were still.
His daily prayer, far better understood
In acts than words, was doing good.
Whittier
By degrees,
They knew not how, men trusted in him.
When He spoke, his word had all the force of deeds
That lay unsaid within him.
To be good Is more than holy words or definite acts;
Embodying itself unconsciously
In simple forms of human helpfulness,
And understanding of the need that prays.
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 