Precept and Practice – AUGUST 19 – Thoughts of Peace
And if in thy life on earth,
In the chamber or by the hearth,
‘Mid the crowded city’s tide,
Or high on the lone hill-side;
Thou canst cause a thought of peace,
Or an aching thought to cease,
Or a gleam of Joy to burst
On a soul in sadness nurst;
Spare not thy hand, my child:
Though the gladdened should never know
The well-spring amid the wild,
When the waters of blessing flow.
(G. MacDonald)
He determined to add nothing, not so much as a passing sigh even, to the great total of men’s unhappiness, in his way through the world;- that too was something to hold on by in the drift of mere ‘appearances.’
(Walter Pater – Marius the Epicurean)
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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 