r, far sterner, far more
mysterious. The darkness is his not less than the light; selfishness
and sin are the work of his hand, as much as unselfishness and
holiness. To call this attitude of mind pessimism, and to say that it
can only end in acquiescence or despair, is a sin against truth. A
creed that does not take this thought into account is nothing but a
delusion, with which we try to beguile the seriousness of the truth
which we dread; but such a stern belief does not forbid us to struggle
and to strive; it rather bids us believe that effort is a law of our
natures, that we are bound to be enlisted for the fight, and that the
only natures that fail are those that refuse to take a side at all.

There is no indecision in nature, though there is some illusion. The
very star that rises, pale and serene, above the darkening thicket, is
in reality a globe wreathed in fiery vapour, the centre of a throng of
whirling planets. What we have to do is to see as deep as we can into
the truth of things, not to invent paradises of thought, sheltered
gardens, from which grief and suffering shall tear us, naked and
protesting; but to gaze into the heart of God, and then to follow as
faithfully as we can the imperative voice that speaks within the soul.

XXXVII

Renewal

There sometimes falls upon me a great hunger of heart, a sad desire to
build up and renew something--a broken building it may be, a fading
flower, a failing institution, a ruinous character. I feel a great and
vivid pity for a thing which sets out to be so bright and beautiful,
and lapses into shapeless and uncomely neglect. Sometimes, indeed, it
must be a desolate grief, a fruitless sorrow: as when a flower that has
stood on one's table, and cheered the air with its freshness and
fragrance, begins to droop, and to grow stained and sordid. Or I see
some dying creature, a wounded animal; or even some well-loved friend
under the shadow of death, with the hue of health fading, the dear
features sharpening for the last change; and then one can only bow,
with such resignation as one can muster, before the dreadful law of
death, pray that the passage may not be long or dark, and try to dream
of the bright secrets that may be waiting on the other side.

But sometimes it is a more fruitful sadness, when one feels that decay
can be arrested, that new life can be infused; that a fresh start may
be taken, and a life may be beautifully renewed, and be even t