“There is much in that, Davie; but there is a better reason than that. It is because things are alive, and the life at the heart of them, that which keeps them going, is the great, beautiful God. So the sun for ever returns after the clouds. A doubting man, like him who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, puts the evil last, and says ‘the clouds return after the rain;’ but the Christian knows that
One has mastery
Who makes the joy the last in every song.”
“You speak like one who has suffered!” said Arctura, with a kind look in his face.
“Who has not that lives?”
“It is how you are able to help others!”
“Am I able to help others? I am very glad to hear it. My ambition would be to help, if I had any ambition. But if I am able, it is because I have been helped myself, not because I have suffered.”
“Will you tell me what you mean by saying you have no ambition?”
“Where your work is laid out for you, there is no room for ambition: you have got your work to do!—But give me your hand, my lady; put your other hand on my shoulder. You stop there, Davie, and don’t move till I come to you. Now, my lady—a little jump! That’s it! Now you are safe!—You were not afraid, were you?”
“Not in the least. But did you come here in the dark?”
“Yes. There is this advantage in the dark: you do not see how dangerous the way is. We take the darkness about us for the source of our difficulties: it is a great mistake. Christian would hardly have dared go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, had he not had the shield of the darkness all about him.”