With each new temptation comes a way to escape; with each new difficulty comes some new explanation. As life advances it does indeed seem to be as a vessel going to pieces, as though we were on the broken fragments of a ship, or in a solitary skiff on the waste of waters; but as long as existence lasts, we must not give up the duty of cheerfulness and hope. He who has guided us through the day may guide us through the night also. The pillar of darkness often turns into a pillar of fire. Let us hold on though the land be miles away; let us hold till the morning breaks. That speck on the distant horizon may be the vessel for which we must shape our course. Forward, not backward, must we steer—forward, and forward, till the speck becomes the friendly ship. Have patience and perseverance; believe that there is still a future before us; and we shall at last reach the heaven where we would be.—Dean Stanley.
[June 29.]
Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. It is not necessary that the entire universe arm itself to crush him. A breath of air, a drop of water, suffices to kill him. But were the universe to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which kills him, because he knows that he dies; and the universe knows nothing of the advantage it has over him.
Our whole dignity consists then in thought. Our elevation must be derived from this, not from space and duration, which we can not fill. Let us endeavor, then, to think well.
Our imagination so magnifies the present time by continually reflecting upon it, and so diminishes eternity by not reflecting upon it, that we make a nothingness of eternity, and an eternity of nothingness, and all this has its roots so vital in us, that our reason can not defend us from it.
It is necessary to know where to doubt, where to be assured, and where to submit. Who does not thus, understands not the force of reason. There are those who offend against these three principles, either affirming everything as demonstrative, for want of a knowledge of demonstration; or doubting everything, for want of knowing where it is necessary to submit; or submitting to everything, for want of knowing where it is necessary to judge.
But those who seek God with all their heart, who have no sorrow, but in being deprived of his presence, who have no desire but to possess him, and no enemies but those who turn them from him; who are afflicted in seeing themselves surrounded and oppressed by such enemies; let them be comforted, I bring them good news; there is a liberator for them, I shall cause them to see him; I shall show them that there is a God for them; I shall show him to no others.
The stoics say: Enter into yourselves; there you will find repose; and this is not true. Others say: Go out of yourselves; seek happiness in diverting yourselves; and this is not true. Diseases come; happiness is neither out of us, nor in us; it is in God, both out of, and in us.