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 GOLDEN RULE 
 MEDITATIONS 
 
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 AMOS R. WELL! 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
GOLDEN RULE 
 
 MEDITATIONS 
 
 BY / 
 AMOS R. WELLS 
 
 ©nteb 5iorietp of Cfirtetian €nbeatoor 
 
 64b WASHINGTON ST. 
 BOSTON 
 
 IS93 
 
 I 
 
 - •— L/ ' 
 

 Copyright, 1893, by 
 United Society of Christian Endeavor. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Rivernde Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co- 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. ON SABBATHS I 
 
 II. ON UNDESERVED LOVE 3 
 
 III. ON PALTRY SUCCESSES 5 
 
 IV. ON A CROWDED LIFE ...... 7 
 
 V. ON THE FEAR OF DEATH .... 9 
 
 VI. ON MEN'S APPROVAL . . . . . . II 
 
 VII. ON GOODS 13 
 
 VIII. ON WORKING WITH OTHERS . . . 1 5 
 
 IX. ON PRAISE 17 
 
 X. ON MANY BURDENS 19 
 
 XI. ON LONELINESS ........ 21 
 
 XII. ON DEBTS 23 
 
 XIII. ON STUMBLINGS 25 
 
 XIV. ON CONFESSING FAULTS 27 
 
 XV. ON COMMONPLACE PEOPLE .... 29 
 
 XVI. ON HARDSHIPS 31 
 
 XVII. ON JUDGING OTHERS ^3 
 
 XVIII. ON LONG GRIEF 35 
 
 XIX. ON THE BIBLE -37 
 
 XX. ON TRIFLES 39 
 
 XXI. ON THE LOSS OF CREDIT . . . . 41 
 
 XXII. ON ENVY 43 
 
 XXIII. ON PITY 45 
 
 XXIV. ON GLOOM 47 
 
 xxv. on worship 49 
 
 XXVI. ON UNSELFISHNESS 5 1 
 
 iii 
 
iv CONTENTS 
 
 XXVII. ON COWARDICE 53 
 
 XXVIII. ON AN ERRING FRIEND 55 
 
 XXIX. ON THE COMING DAY 57 
 
 XXX. ON SATISFACTION 59 
 
 XXXI. ON NEEDLESS WORRY ' . 6 1 
 
 XXXII. ON INGRATITUDE 63 
 
 XXXIII. ON STUDY 65 
 
 XXXIV. ON A DISMAL DAY 67 
 
 XXXV. ON REST 69 
 
 XXXVI. ON COVETOUSNESS 71 
 
 XXXVII. ON THE JOYS OF NATURE . . . . y^ 
 
 XXXVIII. ON PEACEFULNESS 75 
 
 XXXIX. ON MAJORITIES ........ 77 
 
 XL. ON INSIGNIFICANCE ...... 79 
 
 XLI. ON RESULTS 8l 
 
 XLII. ON TIME FOR WORK 83 
 
 XLIII. ON HEROISM 85 
 
 XLIV. ON HIDING SORROW 87 
 
 XLV. ON THANKSGIVING 89 
 
 XLVI. ON SINGLENESS OF MIND . . . . 91 
 
 XLVII. ON OPPOSITION 93 
 
 XLVIII. ON UNSEEN THINGS 95 
 
 XLIX. ON REMEMBERING 97 
 
 L. ON CHRISTMAS 99 
 
 LI. ON FEAR FOR OTHERS IOI 
 
 LIE. ON THE COMING YEAR ..... 103 
 
ON SABBATHS 
 
 HOW beautiful is this Sabbath day ! 
 Spirits of rest brood in the heav- 
 ens and walk about the earth. Some- 
 thing is missing from my shoulders ; it 
 is the burden of yesterday. My mind, 
 yesterday so oppressed with cares, for- 
 gets even what load has been lifted. I 
 have not planned for this peace. God, 
 far back in the creation, and through all 
 the wise ordering of the ages, has been 
 preparing it for me. God has thrust it 
 upon me, though yesterday I should 
 have rejected it to continue my tasks. 
 Ah ! why has he not forced upon me a 
 continual Sabbath ? Indeed, may I not 
 have it ? These bird-songs are the same 
 as Saturday. Saturday's sunshine was 
 as holy, air as clear, and trees as gra- 
 cious. The Sabbath has come within 
 
2 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 me, for God and his world keep Sabbath 
 all the time. Yield me the secret, O 
 Father, by which thou dost carry on 
 works so mighty with such abiding peace- 
 fulness. Let me teach my tasks to sing 
 a Sabbath anthem with me. Let me 
 teach my heart to cease from fretting on 
 thy Sabbath days. Here on earth let 
 me begin the Sabbath of eternity, whose 
 toil is fruitful because it is untroubled, 
 whose rest is perfect because it sings 
 with labor. Draw me, Father of Sab- 
 baths, close to thee and to thy peace. 
 
II 
 
 ON UNDESERVED LOVE 
 
 MY loved ones love me as if I de- 
 served their love. It is poured 
 out unearned, slighted, and even re- 
 buked. It is so great that a little kind- 
 ness satisfies it, and it goes on. It is so 
 foolish that it even transforms my faults 
 into virtues, and sees something to love 
 in all my ugliness. What angers others 
 only pains my loved ones ; and the evil 
 in me that others do not try to forget, 
 they do not even remember. Or do they 
 hide their pain when I slight them, as I 
 afterwards hide my remorse and shame ? 
 and is their contentment with me partly 
 feigned, like my carelessness ? Let me 
 cease to brood over such thoughts, that 
 I may the more manfully make them im- 
 possible. O thou who dost see in all 
 true disciples thy mother and sister and 
 
4 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 brother, I cast upon thee all my burden 
 of sin against my loved ones. Thy great 
 love will fill up the great lack in mine. 
 Thou wilt unburden me of the past, and 
 thou wilt direct me into worthier ways. 
 O thou who didst never cause a heart- 
 ache, teach thy servant to love. O 
 thou from whom affection never shrank 
 abashed, teach thy servant to love. O 
 thou who wert never too busy to be 
 kind, teach thy servant to love. I will 
 be taught of thee, and win myself from 
 shame. 
 
Ill 
 
 ON PALTRY SUCCESSES 
 
 I DID the best God then gave me to 
 do, and felt depressed because God 
 gave me no better. When shall I gain 
 the healthy mind, the cheery spirit, that 
 is triumphant when God works his will 
 with me ? Is not that to be illustrious 
 enough ? What matters it whether his 
 will deals with my failures or my suc- 
 cesses, with great deeds or petty deeds, 
 so that it deals with me ? It is more 
 blessed to be used of God in small deeds 
 than in great, because then I shall be 
 sure that God honors me for myself and 
 not for my works. It is better that the 
 applause of men should be hushed, that 
 in the silence I may hear God's approval. 
 Would I have my patent of nobility 
 signed by the scullion as well as by the 
 king? Father, grant me the power to 
 
 5 
 
6 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 leave my work, after it is done, with thee 
 and not with men. Father, I would have 
 no rival to thy " Well done ! " Help me 
 to such love for thee that I can spare 
 men's praise. Nay, help me, Father, to 
 such love for men that I can spare men's 
 praise. What are we, that we should 
 judge each other scornfully ? Ah, what 
 are we, that we should judge each other 
 praisefully ? Thou art the Judge, whether 
 to exalt or depress. To thee alone we 
 rise ; from thee alone we fall ; and not 
 from men. Be thou so near me that, 
 with all faithfulness to the world's work 
 and all love for men, whether they love 
 me or slight me, I may yet live to none 
 but thee. 
 
IV 
 
 ON A CROWDED LIFE 
 
 I AM troubled about my living. So 
 much to do with power so slight, so 
 many things with so little time, so sacred 
 duties with so feeble inspiration. Re- 
 quirement presses on requirement half 
 accomplished, and the good keeps me so 
 busy that I have no time to seek the 
 better. Here and there, everywhere in 
 my life, are loose ends, fragments of ac- 
 complishment. Nothing is beautifully 
 finished. Nothing is rounded into solid 
 usefulness. Some day will there not 
 come a crash in all this ill-formed life of 
 mine, tumbling it into fitting chaos ? 
 Creator, Father, shall I ever make my- 
 self what thou didst intend me ? O for- 
 give me, Father, that I forgot thou didst 
 create me ! O forgive me, Creator, that 
 I forgot thy fatherhood ! Thy creatures 
 
 7 
 
8 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 crowd space beyond space, but thy love 
 reaches farther. The time whose limits 
 oppress me, thou didst create. The 
 small strength which thou didst give me 
 is akin to thy great strength, and may 
 summon it. Thou didst create me and 
 thou dost love me. So firmly by those 
 two strands is my life knit to thine that 
 if, while I am doing my best, my life 
 should tumble into ruin, it must draw 
 thine infinite being with it. O, that what 
 I thus know with my mind I may know 
 with my heart ! Assure me of thy pres- 
 ence with me in my work. Teach me 
 to form my life by letting thee form it. 
 Tenderly draw me out of my f retfulness 
 into thy peace. 
 
ON THE FEAR OF DEATH 
 
 WHY do I fear death for myself ? 
 It is not because I dread the pain 
 of dissolution, for the pain of a tooth- 
 ache is often worse. It is not a shrink- 
 ing from the darkness beyond, because 
 Christ has made it all light to me, prov- 
 ing that God is good. It is not doubt 
 of a happy heaven ; I have not so known 
 my Saviour. Nor is it always, though it 
 often is, unwillingness to leave the fair 
 expanse of earth, its joys but little tried, 
 my work in it so poorly done ; for I 
 know that death can mean no narrow- 
 ing of enjoyment, no break in any true 
 undertaking. More often my fear of 
 death is born of others' fear. My dear 
 ones> how they grieve when loved ones 
 die ! What pitiful, white faces, and 
 choking sighs, and black garb, true em- 
 
io GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 blem of darkened lives ! And I know 
 that, unworthy as I am of such love, 
 their sorrow would be long and deep for 
 me. So I fear death for myself because 
 I pity others ; yes, and I fear death for 
 others because I pity myself. Their 
 endless gain I count less than my few 
 years of loss. Their emancipation, their 
 exaltation, their enlargement, their riches 
 of life with the Lord, — a selfish tear dis- 
 solves it all from my memory. Why 
 cannot we be more brave, my loved ones 
 and I ? We are to live forever ; why 
 should we love like ephemerals ? Why 
 should the short separation to come em- 
 bitter with salt tears our dwelling to- 
 gether here ? To them and to me, O 
 Lord of death and of life, gracious Lord 
 of life and of death, grant the wisdom 
 that sees things truly, grant the courage 
 that knows but one Master, grant the 
 love that is serene forever, resting on 
 the arm of the undying One. 
 
VI 
 
 ON MEN'S APPROVAL 
 
 YESTERDAY I was successful. I 
 did my work swiftly and well, and 
 won men's hearty praise. And then I 
 worked the harder, and became still 
 more successful, to win greater praise; 
 but the praise did not come. Thereupon 
 I became gloomy and discontented, and 
 the lack of men's praise embittered all 
 my work ; so that I cried in anger, 
 " What is the use of toiling for ungrate- 
 ful men ? " Thus I turned all my suc- 
 cesses into failure, because I forgot that 
 thou, O God, art my only success. And 
 thus I turned all my accomplishment 
 into ashes, because I forgot that thou, O 
 Christ, art my only accomplishment — 
 to win thy smile and thine indwelling. 
 Will it be wrong if, in this coming day, 
 I remember with joy as I work that men 
 
12 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 will praise me for it ? Is it wrong to be 
 pleased with any applause but thine? 
 Thou wouldst not say so, for thou didst 
 teach us to care for human love ; and 
 men's approval is sweet because their 
 love is sweet. Yet forgive me, Lord, 
 because I have set men's love above 
 thy matchless love, and have been dis- 
 consolate at missing this lesser love, as 
 if the owner of a diamond mine should 
 fret for a gravel bank. And as long as 
 this praise of my brothers and sisters 
 dulls my ears to thy whisper of warning 
 or of blessing, grant that all human 
 tongues may be chained from commen- 
 dation, and all human hands held from 
 applause. 
 
VII 
 
 ON GOODS 
 
 POSSIBLY it was the roaring of the 
 flame up the chimney ; or possibly 
 it was the fire alarm which just sounded. 
 For some cause, at any rate, my thoughts 
 have turned to my dearest material pos- 
 sessions, my books. I doubt not others 
 have goods as dear, — books likewise, 
 or silks, or pictures, or gems, — but I 
 wonder if they are so fearful for their 
 treasures as I for mine. Here my books 
 are, ranked before me in their kindly 
 covers, old friends and trusty, every leaf 
 heavy with golden memories. But a 
 match in a luckless corner, or a faulty flue 
 in my neighbor's house, and they would 
 be gone, nor could all the world replace 
 them. What should I do without them ? 
 Ah, what shall I do without them, when 
 I have done with material things, when 
 
14 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 I go to the land of spirit ? Yet how do 
 I know that I must learn to do without 
 them? Eye hath not seen nor mind 
 conceived the joys the Father hath in 
 store. But ah ! those joys are for those 
 who love him, and with the whole heart. 
 Take, then, from my heart, O Giver of 
 all good, whatever love of thy good 
 things prevents supreme love of thee. 
 Make me willing for the loss of all 
 things, books, friends, home, all things, 
 that I may find thee. Then, I know, I 
 shall truly find all my possessions for 
 the first time. 
 
VIII 
 
 ON WORKING WITH OTHERS 
 
 IF one could only work alone ! How 
 annoying to have my plans pushed 
 awry by the plans of others, my work 
 left incomplete through the failure of 
 their work, my zeal checked by their op- 
 position ! How difficult to have patience 
 with the slow, to restrain the over-eager, 
 to correct mistakes, to repeat careful in- 
 structions ! Not only my time is lost, 
 but my energy and spirit for work. 
 There is discipline won in dealing with 
 men, but might it not be won in easier 
 ways ? I may do them good, but how 
 unkind in them to need my good offices ! 
 If I could work alone, every hindrance 
 would be removed but my own faults, 
 and every annoyance would cease but 
 my own peevishness. Truly, these would 
 be enough, without the peevishness and 
 
 '5 
 
16 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 faults of others. my Master, when 
 thou wert on the earth, how didst thou 
 endure to work with men ? Thou who 
 art perfect, with their imperfections; 
 and thou who art all-gracious, with their 
 gracelessness ? When I remember how 
 thou didst say, " Father, forgive them," 
 and how patient thou wert when thy dis- 
 ciples all forsook thee, I am ashamed 
 of my complaining. Do my friends, I 
 wonder, thus complain at my being with 
 them ? Would they, too, prefer to work 
 alone? Grant me such gracious help- 
 fulness, my Father, that they may never 
 have that thought of me \ and such hu- 
 mility, that I may cease to have that 
 thought of them. 
 
IX 
 
 ON PRAISE 
 
 OTHAT my words were choirs, 
 each choir of a thousand songs ! 
 Thanksgiving itself is graceless, and 
 shamed by the truth. My days have 
 been all ungrateful, and so must they be 
 forever. Yet it is meet, my Father, to 
 offer thee unmeet praise. Praise for the 
 knowledge of thee, and for the assur- 
 ance that it will grow constantly clearer. 
 Praise that thou hast given me the secret 
 of infinite years, hast taught me immor- 
 tality. Praise for the hope of heaven. 
 Praise for the translation of earth, its 
 commonplace become marvels, its wor- 
 ries become calmness, its aches become 
 promises. Praise for my tasks where- 
 with thou dost let me help thee in thy 
 mighty labors. Praise for the dear de- 
 lights of home and loved ones. Praise 
 17 
 
18 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 for the every-day blessings of sun and 
 air and sky and soil, of warmth and 
 shelter. Praise for books and a mind 
 that can feed upon them. Praise for the 
 Book that dwarfs all books. Praise for 
 friends, for helpers, for lovers. And 
 praise, praise, praise, for the friendship, 
 the help, the mighty and wonderful love 
 of Christ Jesus my Lord. 
 
X 
 
 ON MANY BURDENS 
 
 HOW much I have to do to-day! 
 And not only how much, but what 
 a variety of things ! Involved with my 
 work, too, is the work of others, who 
 may be lazy or incompetent, and whose 
 fault may spoil my labor. And I must 
 meet many people, the ill-natured, the 
 mean, the debasing ; and before all these 
 men, and in all these trials, I must be 
 calm and strong and cheery, illustrating 
 the doctrine of my Lord. Surely my 
 cares are many, and my tasks beyond 
 my power to accomplish. Ah, foolish 
 being that I am, I have nothing to do ! 
 Nothing to do, O Christ the toiler, be- 
 cause thou dost do it all ; and no care 
 to fret about, because thou carest for 
 me. Forgive me because I go all thy 
 sweet day through with phantoms of 
 19 
 
20 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 burdens weighing me down, fancying 
 that I am bearing the load, when I bear 
 only the semblance of it ! Forgive me 
 because I fret so many of thy sweet 
 hours away, cowering before ghosts of 
 cares whose real selves thou hast long 
 ago put to flight! Forgive me, and 
 pity me, because these unrealities seem 
 often very real to me ; and teach my 
 eyes to see the truth. Keep me from 
 conjuring up, with my pride of self, 
 with my weak distrust of heaven, these 
 brain-born worries and empty fears. In 
 this calm morning meditation I am sure 
 of thine upholding. Maintain, O Lord, 
 that trust throughout the day. 
 
XI 
 
 ON LONELINESS 
 
 NOW I go forth into the day alone. 
 My dear ones are far away, and 
 none but strangers about me. What do 
 they know of my needs, my hopes, my 
 fears ? Yes, and what do I know of 
 theirs ? Kind people they may be, but 
 how may I know of their kindness ? 
 Their wisdom and strength and beauty 
 of soul are all, to a stranger, as if they 
 were not. It is a sad thing to be alone 
 in God's crowded world. In God's 
 world ! O Father, forgive me. Forgive 
 me, thou Elder Brother, who wert de- 
 serted by all thy disciples ! I remember 
 now that thou wert lonely in order that 
 no man henceforth need know loneli- 
 ness ; " that where thou art we may be 
 also." I had forgotten that thou art 
 with me. And I had not thought w T hat 
 
22 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 throngs thou bringest with thee ; for in 
 this great city how many thousands dwell 
 in thee, and with them I shall dwell daily 
 when I live in thee. Why can I not feel 
 this, O my Father ? Why do I ever deem 
 myself alone ? Why do I not exult daily 
 and hourly in my riches of friends in 
 thee ? Something in my heart tells me 
 the reason, — tells me that I lack the 
 unselfish love which is thy passport into 
 thy kingdom of friends, where is no soli- 
 tude. Help me to this love, my loving 
 Father, for I am tired of being alone. 
 
XII 
 
 ON DEBTS 
 
 HOW much that is in my life for 
 strength and joy is not my own, 
 but the gift of others ! Here I take 
 daily credit for the exercise of abilities 
 which others have chiefly developed, in 
 ways of usefulness which others have 
 opened to me. Subtract from my life 
 what teachers and friends and books 
 have put there, and surely the remnant 
 would permit no pride. Touches of love, 
 inspiration of example, the promptings 
 of confidence reposed in me, prayers of 
 God's saints, kindly counsel of my eld- 
 ers, — by a thousand daily happenings 
 such as these, I am upheld and moved 
 without my knowledge. Yes, and with- 
 out my gratitude. For this, forgive me, 
 revered teachers, loved friends, and 
 friendly books. Forgive me, thou God 
 23 
 
24 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 of all upholding. When, in all thine 
 eternal years, shall I have paid my 
 debts. I who have not yet understood 
 them ? Must I be bankrupt through 
 ages of ages ? If it be thy will, O Lord. 
 Thou didst make me weak, needing a 
 world of helpers, that so I might learn 
 the hill whence cometh the help of the 
 world. I shall not be ashamed in thy 
 great day though the good I have done 
 to others be dwarfed by the good they 
 have done to me, if this has been thy 
 will for all. Perhaps the love even of a 
 debtor may help to save mankind. 
 
XIII 
 
 ON STUMBLINGS 
 
 DAILY and hourly, when I would be 
 strong, I am weak. Falling into 
 traps I have spread for myself, stumbling 
 against obstacles I myself have reared, 
 vainglorious yet despising myself, confi- 
 dent and headstrong under a dismal 
 burden of failures that no one sees but 
 God and his angels, — how dare I walk 
 in these familiar paths ? What assur- 
 ance have I that where I have so often 
 sinned I shall not sin again ? My pride 
 is the same, and my fall will be the 
 same. And if I flee from the tempta- 
 tions that daily vanquish me, the very 
 flight will bring me more completely un- 
 der their sway. God will not be there 
 more than here ; nor will evil be less at 
 another place or another time. A morn- 
 ing of good deeds will not save me from 
 25 
 
26 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 an afternoon of sin. My eyes fill with 
 tears at the thought of my Saviour, and 
 yet I pass from the story of his perfect 
 years to a life all foul with selfishness. 
 O Christ, thou knowest my frame, thou 
 knowest why I fall ; I know not. I am 
 not strong enough even to get from thee 
 the help I need. Do thou press it on 
 me. Take a tempted life that yields to 
 sin, and force it to yield to thee. Lead 
 me not into temptation ; deliver me 
 from evil. 
 
XIV 
 
 ON CONFESSING FAULTS 
 
 WHY do I always increase and 
 perpetuate my faults by my un- 
 willingness to confess them? I # cover 
 my shame and let it smoulder, instead of 
 bidding it consume openly before men's 
 eyes the dross that is in me. My rare 
 petitions for forgiveness have melted 
 my soul, have left me at peace ; yet still 
 I shrink from the winning of this rest. 
 It is not hard to abase myself before 
 God ; when no eye sees, save his, to 
 throw ashes on my head, and beat my 
 breast in despair and remorse. Why 
 should it be hard, then, to ask the par- 
 don of God's creatures ? Ah, I fear that 
 I think more of my offence toward men 
 than of my offence toward God ; other- 
 wise, it would be easy to confess to men, 
 
 but I should tremble to draw near the 
 27 
 
28 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 throne of the Just One. Take from me, 
 merciful Judge, my shamefaced fear 
 of the brother whom I have offended, 
 and cause me to fear in shame the God 
 whom I have much more offended. 
 Thus I may more often ask my brother's 
 forgiveness ; thus I may less often need 
 to seek in despondency the blessed for- 
 giveness of my Lord. 
 
XV 
 
 ON COMMONPLACE PEOPLE 
 
 MY conscience accuses me that I 
 treated my acquaintance ill. What- 
 ever the outward appearance, there was 
 no heart of kindliness. And that was 
 all because I thought the man common- 
 place. Are there, then, men in whom I 
 dare be uninterested ? Men upon whom 
 God has set his image, though it is 
 marred and blurred, men of hopes and 
 joys and fears, men who will live forever, 
 — who am I, to call these commonplace ? 
 What but one of the very common places 
 of God's universe do I fill ? When my 
 Lord was upon the earth, he did not at- 
 tach himself to poets and deep thinkers, 
 but to men of humdrum, ordinary lives. 
 In that marvellous way he proved his 
 divinity, by discerning God's image un- 
 der man's commonplace. Why cannot 
 29 
 
3 o GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 I do the same ? There it is, beneath 
 the slouching gait, the dull eyes, the 
 boorish tongue, the uncouth manner, 
 there lies God's image, asleep, yet ready 
 to be wakened into beauty. Why can- 
 not I awaken it, as Christ did, with 
 the kiss of love ? Ah ! it is because I 
 have not the heart of love. It is be- 
 cause my eyes are veiled with pride, and 
 my lips frozen with egotism. Forgive 
 me, forgive me, thou royal Jesus ! For- 
 give me, and help me to climb up into 
 thy kingly humility, that sees, and un- 
 derstands, and loves the most common- 
 place things, because itself is not com- 
 monplace. 
 
XVI 
 
 ON HARDSHIPS 
 
 I LOOK back over the years thou hast 
 given me, my Father, and though 
 the happy days are sweet and many, it 
 is the days of hardship that I remember, 
 and remember to bless. In them thou 
 didst teach me thy waiting strength. In 
 them I drew close to thy love. Through 
 them I came to rise above the frets of 
 time and to know the joy of immortality. 
 They interpreted the world to me, and 
 myself to the world. Thou hast fed me 
 with rich hardships, and I have grown. 
 And how patient thou hast been with 
 my petulance, as I flung out my arms 
 against thee in the night, and buffeted 
 thy wise designs in the daytime ! Thy 
 corrections have been few for such a 
 peevish child. And what shall I think 
 of the worries that now harass me ? 
 31 
 
32 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 Shall I learn nothing from the past, but 
 continue to fight God's leading ? O 
 thou Shepherd of men, well do I know 
 these sharp grievances to be but the 
 brambles thou hast set to keep my feet 
 from straying, and the disappointments 
 and failures that vex me are the pres- 
 sure of thy restraining hand. Knowing 
 it, may I live that knowledge ! May joy 
 sing on my lips, and peace shine in my 
 eyes, and the faith that never fails dwell 
 in my heart. So may I walk with thee 
 through the lights and shadows of the 
 world, and know no darkness. 
 
XVII 
 
 ON JUDGING OTHERS 
 
 MY words were true, and the re- 
 buke was needed ; and yet I am 
 ashamed that I gave it. I gave it in 
 humility, conscious that I might sin in 
 the same way; yet I repent as if for 
 pride. Why am I afraid to deal frankly 
 with my brothers ? It is not fear of 
 them, but of myself. For, though I in- 
 vite criticism, my heart fights against 
 it; and though I am sometimes brave 
 enough to give it, I am never brave 
 enough to receive it. And what right 
 have I to impose on others a burden I 
 shrink from ? Yet it should not be a 
 burden. How much I might help my 
 friend by telling him of that one fault of 
 his ! How greatly I need to know my 
 own ! I should not be unkindly silent 
 simply because he may misjudge my 
 
 33 
 
34 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 motives. Judge ? Ah, who was it said, 
 " Judge not " ? I have been judging my 
 friend ; in humility and lovingly, yet I 
 have judged him. And I myself would 
 not be judged with that judgment, save 
 by the all-seeing One. Help me, thou 
 pitying Judge, to help my brother and 
 be helped by him, humbly leaving with 
 thee all decision on our lives. 
 
XVIII 
 
 ON LONG GRIEF 
 
 THE old grief again, the same as 
 yesterday, bitter as when it burst 
 upon me months ago. My prayers have 
 not lessened its anguish, and the conso- 
 lations of religion have not softened the 
 hardness of it. The very cares and per- 
 plexities of this world are kinder to me, 
 for they make me forget it, until it 
 rushes back upon me in some quiet 
 hour when I have time to think. O 
 God, is it thy will that I should be pur- 
 sued by this grief through all the years 
 of eternity ? In man is no help ; is 
 there none in thee ? The peace that in 
 all things else thy Son's religion gives 
 me, in dealings with men, in turmoil of 
 business, in studies and in friendships, 
 — is this peace to fail where I need it 
 most ? Or at least where I wish it most. 
 
36 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 For thou, God, dost know my need. 
 In all things else I can see that thou 
 hast known my need. Shall I not trust 
 thy hand at this one point of darkness ? 
 From thine own Son thou didst not re- 
 move the bitter cup. Thou didst press 
 it to his lips when his soul cried out in 
 anguish. Shall I ask thee to spare me ? 
 I will bless thy name that my grief is 
 but one. Though it is heavy, I will 
 bless thee that it is no heavier. If it be 
 thy will that through all eternity this 
 grief shall be my comrade, grant me 
 grace to say, Father, thy will be done. 
 There is no lack of love with thee, and 
 thy love has no lack of wisdom. Thy 
 loving will be done. 
 
XIX 
 
 ON THE BIBLE 
 
 HOW shall I read aright in the book 
 of the law ? My brothers speak 
 of unfailing joy in it, but I cannot say 
 that. My sisters seek it with a hunger 
 and a thirst that I do not feel. I re- 
 member hours when its strong words 
 have borne me up to God's throne, to 
 the city of peace, to the river of life ; 
 but I remember, also, many an hour of 
 level reading that lifted me no fraction 
 from my worries. Why art thou not al- 
 ways with thy book, O God, or with thy 
 servant when he reads it ? Yet, hold ! 
 What am I to chide God, or chafe at his 
 withdrawal, or set the hour of his com- 
 ing and the length of his stay ? Mine 
 it is to seek him ever in the ways of his 
 appointing ; and his it is to make me 
 conscious of his nearness when he will. 
 
38 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 Mine it is to be grateful for the visions 
 God has shown me, to count one hour 
 of grace from his book enough, and 
 honor it forever for that hour ; his it is 
 to crown my gratitude with higher rev- 
 elations, and bless the obedient eyes 
 with sweeter visions. Make me willing, 
 my Father, for one pearl of great truth 
 to sell my days and nights. Teach me 
 to prize the Bible I know, that I may 
 come to know a holier one. 
 
XX 
 
 ON TRIFLES 
 
 WHY can I not separate the essen- 
 tials of my life from the non- 
 essentials ? Here I am as gloomy over 
 the peevishness of a subordinate as I 
 would be on the death of a friend ; and 
 yesterday the failure to have my own 
 way about a trifle made my whole life- 
 work seem darkly ruined. What avails 
 my heirship of eternity if I shuffle along, 
 the slave of time ? What avails it that 
 the King is my Father, if every worldly 
 worry is my master ? What avails it 
 that my mind can look before and after, 
 if its clownish, timorous gaze is fettered 
 to the clay I walk on ? Men have gone 
 about their duller tasks more faithfully 
 than I, have met with more compelling 
 vigor the prosaic foes of humdrum toil, 
 and yet have kept calm spirits through 
 
40 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 it all, and never have ceased to hear the 
 songs of angels. Instead of disagree- 
 ments with well-meaning friends, others 
 have borne the bitter rush of foes. In- 
 stead of backward eddies in a swiftly 
 prosperous stream, others have had to 
 breast opposing waves, and never have 
 known success. They were more blest 
 in their woes than I in my blessings. 
 Ah, my God, I deserve the lightning of 
 thine anger ! Well might it turn my 
 fortune into curses, my friends into foes, 
 and my peevish fuming into sorrow with 
 cause ! But spare me in thy mercy as 
 thou hast spared me. Grant me the 
 wisdom to know my happiness, wherein 
 it lies. Help me to the strength that 
 holds on to thee. Help me to the sane- 
 ness that sees things in their right pro- 
 portions, and to the peace that all earth's 
 turmoils cannot shake. For thou, O God 
 my Father, art health and peace, and 
 the help that never fails. 
 
XXI 
 
 ON THE LOSS OF CREDIT 
 
 THAT was a good piece of work, 
 and he got the credit for it. How 
 often this happens to me, that others 
 are praised for things I have done, or at 
 least made possible for them to do ! 
 Why should I continue to labor, while 
 others reap my reward ? An unjust and 
 unwise world, so blind to men's deserv- 
 ing ! Could not God render to every 
 one his reward according to his deeds ? 
 — Ah, faithless wretch that I am, he has 
 promised to do that very thing ! What 
 reward do I profess to seek, other than 
 his approval ? What reward do I really 
 seek, other than men's approval and my 
 own ? O thou who didst say of such as 
 I, " They have their reward," save me 
 from self-deceit. I deserve the misun- 
 derstanding of others, I who am so in- 
 
42 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 sincere with myself. O Christ, who didst 
 seek recognition for thy work only that 
 thy Father might be recognized in it, 
 teach me the like zealous humility. 
 Show me how much credit I, too, am 
 getting for things I owe to others. Help 
 me to prefer my brother's honor to my 
 own. Teach me rather to dread unde- 
 served praise than to seek the praise I 
 deserve. Grant me wisdom to lose all 
 thought of what I have done in shame 
 at the pettiness of it, when measured 
 against thy plans, and thy mighty, ever- 
 ready help. 
 
XXII 
 
 ON ENVY 
 
 WHY must I envy all excellency in 
 others ? What should it be to 
 me that this one makes beautiful music, 
 that this one is a strong orator, that this 
 one, again, is shrewd in handicraft ? It 
 is well to admire others ; but this is 
 more than admiration, because it makes 
 me miserable. It is well to be ambi- 
 tious ; but this is less than ambition, be- 
 cause it makes me weak. This orator — 
 is he skilled in music ? This painter — 
 is he a good mechanic ? These all have 
 their one gift, and I have mine : why 
 should I long for theirs ? What should 
 theirs be to me but an added joy and 
 pride ? Is not the Lord of all talents 
 with theirs as he is with mine ? But 
 ah ! is he with mine ? He cannot be 
 with discontent, half-hearted zeal, and 
 
 43 
 
44 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 glances cast aslant. He cannot remain 
 with gifts so gracelessly received. O 
 God of my talent ! teach me how to use 
 it. I would be so filled with the joy of 
 it that I have no wish for other gifts \ so 
 firm in loyalty to it that other allegiance 
 would be impossible. Then I shall praise 
 thee for the talents of other men, when 
 I have learned to praise thee for my 
 own. 
 
XXIII 
 
 ON PITY 
 
 I ENDURE too complaisantly the 
 sorrows of others. The pitying 
 word is ready, but not always the pity- 
 ing heart; and when my condolences 
 do not cheat me, I wonder if they ever 
 deceive another. Is not sorrow too sad 
 a thing to be saddened still more by hy- 
 pocrisy ? If my heart is not tender, is it 
 well to soften my voice ? And then, the 
 wretched selfishness of it : when a petty 
 worry of mine dulls my ears to a neigh- 
 bor's calamity, and a pain in my finger 
 occupies me more than his loss of his 
 child. Is this loving my neighbor as my- 
 self? O Christ, thy way is hard, thy 
 precepts are high, I cannot attain to 
 them ! I grovel in my mean and petty 
 self-love, which is hateful to me, yet I 
 am ever slipping back into it. Have 
 
 45 
 
46 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 pity upon me, with that pity which I 
 grudge to others. Strengthen this weak 
 sorrow of mine, that it may spend itself 
 away from itself. Thy woe upon earth 
 was greater than all earth's pain, and it 
 was woe that men bore so lightly the 
 pains of their brothers. Forgive me, O 
 Christ, that I thus grieve thy heart. For- 
 give me, that I thus mar thy image in 
 myself. And teach me, that serving 
 others after thine own blessed way, I 
 may lose, in the divine sorrow of sym- 
 pathy, the sorrow and shame of my un- 
 feeling heart. 
 
XXIV 
 
 ON GLOOM 
 
 THE God of joy bids me be happy, 
 yet I let my heart be troubled. My 
 mind tells me that gloom is sin, and 
 straightway cheerlessness condemns me. 
 Friends, a host of them, will be en- 
 camped around me ; above me will float 
 the banner of love ; the work of my 
 hands will be prospered ; yet my life 
 will be so sadly poised withal, and in- 
 clined away from what is sane and peace- 
 ful, that the lightest touch of the finger 
 of failure will overturn it into the Slough 
 of Despond. O Christ of Cana, how 
 may my life be a feast ? O thou who 
 dost flood the universe with the light of 
 thy sun, shine in my life, not now and 
 then, but forever. I am weary of joy's 
 uncertainty, of the peace that is fickle 
 as a desert stream. Grant me thy peace 
 
 47 
 
48 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 that floweth as a river, thy peace that 
 recks not of its peacefulness, thy joy 
 whose essence is the joy of others. 
 Make me so busy with useful work that 
 I shall not feel the touch of the finger 
 of failure. So breathe into me the en- 
 ergy of thy strong purposes that I shall 
 not need to sit at a feast. Help me to 
 such pity for the trouble of others that I 
 shall be careless whether my own heart 
 is troubled or not. Let thy joy be in 
 me, that my joy may be fulfilled. 
 
XXV 
 
 ON WORSHIP 
 
 I PROFESS with my lips a love for 
 the courts of the Lord, but that love 
 is very languid, and easy to be refused. 
 This half-willing church-going cheats 
 men and cheats me, but it does not 
 cheat God. He knows when the heart 
 stays at home. And yet I would not 
 wait to be willing to go to the house of 
 the Lord. Yesterday I went with slow 
 feet, but they bore me to the gates of 
 heaven. Many and many a time God 
 has thus shamed with a blessing my 
 wandering desires. Surely his sanctuary 
 has light even for half-shut eyes, and 
 God's music reaches even to listless 
 ears. Surely God will be pleased if even 
 by grudging attendance I say, "Lord, I 
 am willing that thou shouldest help my 
 unwillingness." But will he be pleased 
 
 49 
 
50 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 if, as for so many years, I remain satis- 
 fied with my unwillingness ? How can 
 I come to love God constantly, with such 
 fickle love for God's sanctuary ? Nay, 
 is it not, rather, that I will love God's 
 house more when I have come to love 
 God more ? Forgive me, Father, that I 
 have so often dishonored the Holy Spirit 
 by regarding the eloquence of men, the 
 harmony of human choirs, the imposing 
 throng below and rich roof above, rather 
 than thy eloquence and beauty, and the 
 singing of thy peace. Teach me to 
 know with the life what I now know 
 with the mind, that the secret of joy in 
 worship is love of God and service of 
 men. 
 
XXVI 
 
 ON UNSELFISHNESS 
 
 WHEN I drive out thoughts of self 
 with thoughts of others, my joy 
 comes in with their joy. When I go 
 about doing good, my sorrows stay at 
 home, and all gladness runs to find me. 
 On such days my worries hide away, 
 my failures and disappointments are for- 
 gotten, my eye looks brightly upon the 
 future, what time it is not entranced 
 with the present. Such seasons have 
 been mine, my Father ; and yet, O what 
 a stupid scholar I am ! I turn from what 
 I have found so pleasant, and seek the 
 old, sad ways of selfishness. Is it a dis- 
 temper in my blood, a madness in my 
 veins ? Is it in punishment for my sins, 
 that though I know happiness I flee from 
 it ? O God, I am wrong at heart ; my 
 instincts are not pure, they are not safe 
 
52 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 guides ; leave me not alone with them. 
 I need thee every hour, my judgment is 
 so weak before the spirit of evil with 
 which I contend; my conscience is so 
 easily entreated, and my will led captive 
 by misery. Lord, I will be glad that 
 my instincts are untrue, for their treach- 
 ery shall lead me to trust in thee. 
 
XXVII 
 
 ON COWARDICE 
 
 A CRAVEN disciple, a faint-hearted 
 follower, a cowardly Christian ! 
 What will my Lord say to me in that day 
 when he speaks his praise and utters 
 his terrible blame ? I have heard Christ 
 reviled, and my silence condemned my- 
 self more than it abashed the blas- 
 phemers. I have listened to skeptics 
 parading their wilful doubts, and my 
 faith has been as mute as unfaith. 
 When testimony to God's love and 
 power has been wanted, my lips have 
 been dumb. When others have been 
 tearing down the idols of error, my 
 hands have hung by my side. Where 
 witness-bearing was easy and to be ap- 
 plauded, I have lifted up my voice. 
 Into places where men scorn the name 
 of Christ, into drunkards' dens, the 
 
54 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 hovels of outcasts, prisons, and haunts 
 of vice, I have not gone. What sacrifice 
 have I made for thee, Christ? What 
 hardship have I borne for thee, O Christ ? 
 What indignity have I suffered for thee, 
 
 Christ ? And thou hast loved me. 
 And thou hast heaped thy kindnesses 
 upon me. I am rich in all things, ex- 
 cept in service. I quiet myself with the 
 thought that no chance for heroism has 
 come ; but it has. I quiet myself with 
 the thought that thou hast called others 
 to these tasks ; but thou hast called me. 
 
 1 persuade myself that at some future 
 time I will do thy will ; but I will not, 
 because I am not about it now. As thy 
 apostles of old prayed to thee for bold- 
 ness, so do I, out of my craven fear and 
 indecision, O Lord, Christ of Gethse- 
 mane ! Grant that I may speak thy word 
 with all boldness, while thou stretchest 
 forth thy hand. And as thou didst shake 
 their meeting place, in testimony of ful- 
 filment, shake thou my very life from its 
 foundations, if thou wilt. Lift my spirit, 
 O Lord, into thy places of power. 
 
XXVIII 
 
 ON AN ERRING FRIEND 
 
 WHY does the discovery of that 
 fault in my honored friend chill 
 my faith in man and God alike ? I have 
 been seeking perfection in the sinful, and 
 wisdom in the fallible. I have made an 
 idol of the creature, and God has merci- 
 fully overthrown my idol. Shall I be 
 angry with my friend, whose fault has 
 sent me back to God ? Shall I be angry 
 with my God, who has made friends but 
 little lower than the angels ? Shall I 
 not rather be angry with myself for my 
 foolish estimates both of God and man ? 
 I thank thee, Father, for the nobility of 
 my brothers, who with me are toiling at 
 the tasks of the world, fighting against 
 the evil within them and without. Even 
 for their failings I thank thee, so far as 
 in them I see my own heart mirrored, 
 
 55 
 
56 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 and am led to the only purity, strength, 
 and perfect love of the universe. Grant 
 me a knowledge of thee far higher than 
 comes from thy marred image. Teach 
 me to look upon thy countenance un- 
 veiled in its glory. From that sight I 
 shall learn how to look upon my friends. 
 
XXIX 
 
 ON THE COMING DAY 
 
 TO-DAY, if things go wrong, let 
 me consider whether the wrong is 
 within me or without; and if it is within 
 me, I shall not be disconsolate, because 
 then I can remedy it ; and if it is with- 
 out, I shall surely not be disconsolate, 
 because that would do no good. To-day, 
 if I am reproached with any mistake, 
 let me first decide whether I am in 
 error ; for if I am not, then I shall be 
 glad, because the reproach cannot harm 
 me ; and if I am justly reproached, then 
 I shall thank God for so faithful friends. 
 To-day, if I become depressed, let me 
 examine carefully the cause of my de- 
 pression • then, if there is no just cause, 
 I shall feel ashamed, but relieved ; and 
 if I have any genuine grief, then I shall 
 know that God will come especially near 
 
 57 
 
58 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 to me to help me bear it. Through 
 this day, my Father, Satan will press 
 upon me in many forms, but chiefly in 
 the disguise of my own feelings. Pro- 
 tect me from them, I pray thee. Grant 
 my reason such shrewdness and my 
 heart such force of cheer that I shall 
 pierce through Satan's black mists to 
 the secret joy of things. Be with my 
 eyes to-day, that they may see how all is 
 good, in earth and in heaven. 
 
XXX 
 
 ON SATISFACTION 
 
 THERE was I again, urging others 
 to a life of content, while my own 
 is poisoned with frequent dissatisfaction ; 
 arguing the Christian's duty of happi- 
 ness, though my sadness gave the lie to 
 my plea ; even preaching courage out of 
 cowardly lips. I am not like the Phari- 
 sees, that lay on others burdens they will 
 not touch ; for I am heavily burdened, 
 yet counsel others to throw aside their 
 weights. And this is an added burden, 
 that I must choose between a faithless 
 silence and a confession so poorly lived. 
 This, with all troubles beside, I bring to 
 thee, thou Burden-bearer. Thou wilt be 
 displeased as I am with my life, and thou 
 wilt bid me continue my lip professions 
 of thee, and so thou wilt not lessen my 
 shame, but rather increase it ; and yet 
 
 59 
 
60 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 thou wilt give me peace. Peace in the 
 assurance of thy power, which grows 
 as my weakness grows. Peace in the 
 remembrance that thou knowest in all 
 points what temptation means, and re- 
 memberest that I am dust. Peace in 
 the promise of the eternal years, wherein 
 I shall see thee and be like thee, and 
 thus even put to shame my present 
 mocking ideals. I pray thee for grace 
 to see what I lack of the best, and to be 
 courageously dissatisfied. I pray thee 
 for grace to know what my small best is, 
 that I may be satisfied bravely. 
 
XXXI 
 
 ON NEEDLESS WORRY 
 
 THERE are few dark days in my 
 life that do not shine out brightly 
 against the years that have settled about 
 them. Soon, doubtless, these few also 
 will be tenderly interpreted by time. O 
 the long hours, the strength and happi- 
 ness lost by my feeble faith ! O the 
 wasting worries over joys disguised as 
 griefs, and over curses that I have come 
 to bless thee for, my Father ! In the 
 growing greatness of thy favor, — no 
 greater now than before, but more 
 clearly seen, — how paltry appear my 
 fretting and my frowning, my needless 
 tears, and my faultfinding convicted of 
 blindness ! I have been so impatient 
 with this good world and the good 
 heaven above it. Scornful of others 
 whose minds were skeptical of truth, 
 
62 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 my own faltering, moody heart has been 
 more skeptical than they. Henceforth I 
 will make the best of life. Nay, I will 
 not ; for thou hast already made the 
 best of it for me ! I will not wait for 
 thy years to disclose the proof of it ; 
 my heart shall know it now. Send what 
 thou wilt, but send with it strength to 
 keep this resolve. My reasoning will 
 not suffice ; I need thy help to be happy. 
 
XXXII 
 
 ON INGRATITUDE 
 
 MY prayers are long wails of peti- 
 tion ; they should be anthems of 
 praise. Is my life so meagre that my 
 converse with the giver of it should em- 
 phasize its lack, rather than its fulness ? 
 Verily, I am needy enough, but my need 
 springs from my lack of contentment, 
 from my poverty of peace and of praise. 
 The crudest catalogue of my blessings 
 should shame me into happiness. I will 
 force myself to the instinct of thanks- 
 giving. I will magnify my goods ; nay, 
 they need no magnifying. Rather, my 
 own heart needs enlarging. Who can 
 widen its reaches, out beyond petty wor- 
 ries and mean complaints, into the sun- 
 light of God's love? Who, but God 
 himself ? If God be with me, petition 
 need be but a breath, and all the air will 
 63 
 
64 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 be praise. Blessed Spirit of peace, in- 
 terpret thyself to me ; thy love, and my 
 blessedness. Help me, that in unwonted 
 joy I may even forget the sin of my in- 
 gratitude. Thou art in the world, draw- 
 ing it to thyself. Thou dost plead with 
 me through lips of cloud and flower, 
 with the eloquence of friendship and 
 opportunity. Thy gates of happiness 
 stand open on the right hand and on the 
 left. Thou thyself, O Christ, didst pass 
 outside them into my cheerless walks, to 
 invite me in. Praise to thee for thy love 
 and thy cheer ; praise for thy manly 
 strength and thy wisdom thou art ready 
 to give ; praise for the power of praise. 
 
XXXIII 
 
 ON STUDY 
 
 THE other day I was downcast at 
 thought of how little I can learn. 
 The sight of textbooks annoys me, and 
 a library catalogue invites despondency ; 
 for there is so much to learn, and I am 
 so ignorant. Things that need to be 
 done, and that I am eager to do, I can- 
 not do, because I do not know enough. 
 The busy years speed. mockingly by, and 
 crowd fresh learning into libraries, even 
 while they crowd from my memory what 
 once I knew. Will there, not come some 
 happy years, toward the close of life, 
 when I can withdraw from the bustle of 
 affairs, and live in libraries ? What joy 
 to revel in the beauties of old languages, 
 to tread the corridors of the past, and 
 walk through the present world with 
 leisure to see its wonders and come to 
 65 
 
66 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 understand its perfection ! What joy to 
 become a scholar, before I die ! Yet 
 the world into which I shall die will have 
 slight use for my scholarship. The wisest 
 books will be child's primers there ; we 
 shall be turned with gladness from the 
 archives of the past to the archives of 
 the future ; the mysteries and splendors 
 of the universe will be our playthings ; 
 and all the tongues of earth will seem 
 but savage babble. O Father, if the 
 work thou dost give me to do requires 
 study, I will study, helped by thee ; but 
 if thou dost set me tasks that can be 
 done without the lore of libraries, I will 
 not count myself unhappy. Help me to 
 be a student of the things that will not 
 perish, a scholar of the eternities. 
 
XXXIV 
 
 ON A DISMAL DAY 
 
 TO-DAY, while all things are gloomy 
 without, be all things bright within. 
 Let me oppose the peace of my soul to 
 the storm in the sky. Why should these 
 dull clouds of matter, moved here and 
 there almost by the breath of chance, 
 affect my fickle spirit ? Is this a nature 
 meet for eternity, when the pettiest 
 things of time can disconcert it ? I am 
 serving poor apprenticeship to those 
 constant years. I am preparing little 
 save fret and fume to carry into their 
 smiling serenity. If my temper is at 
 the mercy of a lowering sky, yet more is 
 it speedily soured by a lowering fortune. 
 Nay, so prone am I to this degenerate 
 darkness, so tied to the gloomy elements 
 of this world, that when all the heavens 
 are kind, I make from nothing a shadow 
 
 6 7 
 
68 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 for myself to dwell in. Forgive me, 
 Father of all joy. Forgive me, Christ 
 of Cana. Make me ashamed for my 
 childishness, and lift me into manhood. 
 Make me ashamed for the lives my 
 fretfulness has embittered. Make me 
 ashamed for every spot whereon my 
 shadow has fallen. dwell thou in me, 
 and every shadow will be sunshine. 
 dwell thou in me, and all my sad fickle- 
 ness will pass away. Come to me this 
 day, thou joyous Comforter, and thy joy 
 will be in me, and my joy be fulfilled. 
 
XXXV 
 
 ON REST 
 
 HOW hard it is to rest ! Into what 
 should be hours of calm thought, 
 of joyful converse, of prayerful retro- 
 spect or prospect, creep reminders of 
 present worries, or fears of coming ill. 
 I know their sinfulness and the shame 
 of it, and long for a happier temper that 
 might give me rest. But no rest comes 
 from within, for there is intrenched the 
 spirit of unrest. A thousand longings 
 are satisfied, and I grieve at the failure 
 of one. A single vacant place means 
 more than a hundred God has filled. 
 The beauty and love that I have, I 
 mourn because I am not worthy to own 
 them ; and the beauty and love that I 
 lack, I mourn because they are not mine. 
 I fret in seasons of activity because my 
 work is burdensome, and in seasons of 
 6 9 
 
70 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 rest because my work is at a standstill. 
 Where, in what school or with what 
 teacher or by what lonely study, can I 
 learn how to rest ? O thou who didst 
 promise rest to the souls of the world, 
 come to me in healing quiet. O thou 
 who on thy seventh day didst create rest, 
 thou alone canst give it, and I cannot 
 earn it. Spirit of peace, grant me grace 
 to rest in thee. 
 
XXXVI 
 
 ON COVETOUSNESS 
 
 THOU hast made this world a beau- 
 tiful world, Creator, Father. For- 
 bid that I should distil temptation from 
 its beauty. Why can I not see green 
 lawns, rare flowers, generous dwelling- 
 places, without poisoning by covetous- 
 ness the delight of my eyes ? Why can 
 I not look upon the river and the wooded 
 hills with gratitude for the glance that 
 should bring peace into my fevered clay, 
 rather than complain that it is only a 
 glance? Why do the splendid piles that 
 skill and energy have raised crush with 
 weakening envy my energy and skill ? 
 For me the elm has queenly form, for 
 me the pansies have color, though I do 
 not own them. To me the passing 
 glimpse of the forest and the mountain 
 may give a blessing they withhold from 
 7^ 
 
72 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 the dweller in their midst. I bless thee 
 that thou hast given to so many leisure 
 and a quiet life. I bless thee that such 
 throngs may live in wealth and ease. I 
 bless thee that the woods are there, and 
 the flowers and the ocean, waiting for 
 my coming. I bless thee that thou dost 
 sweeten my life with labor, and give zest 
 by hours of toil to my moments of rest 
 and delight. Let my delight be also in 
 my work, and my rest there, too, O my 
 God. Let it be my coveted luxury to do 
 thy will. 
 
XXXVII 
 
 ON THE JOYS OF NATURE 
 
 THAT was a gloomy week — the 
 last one. The skies were bright, 
 but I saw only a cloud of black worries. 
 I walked through the sunshine proof 
 against its winsomeness, and moped by 
 myself or snarled among my friends. 
 But this week I have let God have his 
 way with me. I have filled myself full 
 of his beauty and his strong peace. 
 The sweet, silent growing of the flowers 
 has shamed me ; the fresh air has lashed 
 my will to action ; the trees have taught 
 me, as they serve God by standing still ; 
 the army of modest grass-blades has 
 sung me a battle-song. My work has 
 taken to itself something of the energy 
 of nature, and much of its ardent peace. 
 Thy world, O Creator, has myriad mes- 
 sages for me. I need thy help to receive 
 
 73 
 
74 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 them. I need thy spirit of unselfishness, 
 that I may leave the cold cell wherein 
 I have shut myself with my frets and 
 my more difficult sorrows, and aban- 
 don myself to the majesty and loveli- 
 ness whereby thou wouldst instruct me. 
 These delights of the natural world, 
 O God, — sunsets, morning splendors, 
 colors and scents and sounds, — are thy 
 ministers, to do thy pleasure. Thou art 
 ready, I well know, to serve me with 
 them. O make me ready and zealous to 
 be served. 
 
XXXVIII 
 
 ON PEACEFULNESS 
 
 THE cares of the world throng thick 
 about me. No time for thought- 
 fulness, no time for quietness, no time 
 for the winning of peace. Longings for 
 heaven are drowned in the clamor of 
 earth, and I am too busy with living to 
 get ready to live. How can one be in 
 the world yet not of it, push through its 
 noisy streets as if he were treading the 
 celestial pavements, hear over its babel 
 the chant of angel voices ? How can I 
 win the calmness that passes unmoved 
 amid dangers and walks quietly through 
 all the world's confusion ? Ah, possibly 
 I should not have this calmness. Who 
 has told me that God meant it for me ? 
 It may be his will that I should have no 
 time for the winning of peace until the 
 rest of death steals upon me ; yes, and 
 
 75 
 
76 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 not even then. If so, then unrest for 
 me, Lord Jesus ! Then conflict is my 
 peace, and toil is my quietness, and hour 
 hurried on to hour is the best prepara- 
 tion for the eternal years. In the life 
 thou dost send me I shall best get ready 
 to live. If the angel voices cannot 
 pierce through its noises, they will sound 
 with a sweeter surprise some day. If 
 throughout this life my feet must be hot 
 upon earth's pavements, the shores of 
 the crystal sea will be the more delight- 
 ful. Thy will be done in me on earth, 
 O Lord, that I may do thy will in heaven. 
 
XXXIX 
 
 ON MAJORITIES 
 
 DO I think that it will not be safe 
 for me to take God at his word 
 until the majority also take him at his 
 word ? Am I afraid that " the other 
 things " will not be " added unto " me, 
 who seek first the kingdom of heaven, 
 if my competitors are seeking first the 
 kingdoms of the earth ? From this time 
 forth, then, let me cease to compete 
 with my competitors. Let me make 
 trial to-day of the divine partnership. 
 I will forget that I live in a state whose 
 governor is gold, and in a city whose 
 mayor is selfishness. God shall be my 
 state and my city. Dwelling in him, 
 even if it should be alone, I must pity 
 the lonelinesss of all other men. And 
 if, as I go about my work, I am tempted 
 out into boastings and bargainings, ad- 
 
 77 
 
78 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 vertisement and the counting of heads, 
 what shall I do ? Pray ; as even now 
 I pray to thee, thou lonely Christ, who 
 art drawing all men to thy loneliness, 
 not that I may be kept from the world, 
 but that I may be kept from the evil in 
 it. Save me, out of a timorous regard 
 for other men, into care for two beings 
 only : thee, and my brother whom I may 
 help to thy joy. 
 
XL 
 
 ON INSIGNIFICANCE 
 
 WHAT a pygmy am I among these 
 immense buildings ! How I am 
 lost among these hurrying throngs J 
 Who of these thousands knows my 
 name or cares about my purposes ? 
 What will avail the conduct of my life, 
 be it brave and strenuous or weak and 
 ignoble? What matters it whether the 
 raindrop swallowed up of the ocean 
 be a pure raindrop or a tainted one? 
 Doubtless here is need enough, unrest, 
 and ignorance, and misery enough ; but 
 so there are diseases among the forest 
 trees : shall the petty ant that crawls 
 over their roots play the physician to the 
 oaks? Doubtless, lost also somewhere 
 among the busy swarms, are other men 
 who, in the love of Christ, are willing to 
 give themselves for Christ's needy ; but 
 how to find them, and by what sign to 
 
 79 
 
80 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 know them ? Here are vast enterprises 
 dwarfing the largest designs of the 
 church. Here is power, power in money, 
 in machinery, in men, mightier a thou- 
 sandfold than all of these powers the 
 church has on her side. Here is a babel 
 of noises, the tradesman, the laborer, 
 the newsboy, the vagrant, the politician, 
 the steam- whistle ; and the church-bells 
 are drowned in the clamor. How can 
 the strongest will, the purest mind, the 
 widest love, make an impression on this 
 tumult ? Silly egotist, who placed you 
 in this world to make an impression ? 
 Who ordained your voice to still earth's 
 babel ? Is it not by the many God works 
 upon the many ? What can save the 
 world but the obedience of the insig- 
 nificant ? Are not the greatest things, 
 love and duty, possible for the smallest 
 men, in the most hidden places ? Do 
 your duty, then, cheerily, humbly, be- 
 cause you are so little ; cheerily, proudly, 
 because Christ will work in you, O my 
 soul. And do thou, my Saviour, save 
 me from thoughts of self. 
 
XLI 
 
 ON RESULTS 
 
 ON what am I to work to-day ? On 
 wood, cloth, and iron, on paper 
 and canvas ? No ; on myself, and on my 
 neighbor. And these visible materials, 
 this wood and iron, together with the 
 tools I use, are themselves the tools of 
 my invisible tasks. This much is sure ; 
 only it is all so vague. If I could handle 
 the results of the day ! If I could 
 count the coin it brings ! If I could 
 reckon up my gains as I add my deposits 
 at the bank ! Save me, O thou who 
 workest hitherto, from the sluggishness 
 of blinded eyes ! Over my ledger, ham- 
 mer, or needle, I have bent so long that 
 I cannot straighten to see thee above 
 them. But thou canst see me, and canst 
 show thyself to me in them. That pres- 
 ence will dignify them where they were 
 
 81 
 
82 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 trivial, beautify them where they were 
 coarse, fill with romance the most com- 
 monplace of them. And when thou 
 hast revealed to me the relation of my 
 tasks to thee, then I shall see clearly 
 how they affect my neighbor and myself. 
 If my work does not shrink at thine in- 
 dwelling, but endures it, I shall know 
 that my work is true to men and safe for 
 me. Teach me, O Christ the Laborer, 
 truly to know and do my own true toil. 
 
XLII 
 
 ON TIME FOR WORK 
 
 WHY didst thou send me so large 
 purposes, O my Father, with so 
 little time to work them out ? Thou 
 hast so touched my heart and crowded 
 my days that as I see more and more 
 that needs to be done, I have less and 
 less time for the doing. O lengthen my 
 days, prolong my years, or else blind me 
 to the need of the world. Grant me an 
 eternity to work in. Indeed, what have 
 I, then ? Less than eternity ? And what 
 matters it that my eternity will not be on 
 earth ? Rather, it would be a dreadful 
 thing to live here forever, since man will 
 not live here forever. And it would be 
 a dreadful thing to have petty purposes, 
 with the eternal years before me. For- 
 bid that the whirl of this earth's eddy of 
 time should confuse me into forgetful- 
 83 
 
84 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 ness of the eternal years. Teach thy 
 hot-headed apprentice an enthusiasm for 
 thy patient processes. Remind me ever 
 by promptings to more than this life can 
 give me, or I can give to this life, that 
 my being is to soar beyond these hurried 
 years and beginnings of tasks, into ages 
 of satisfying accomplishment. Thus 
 may my common days be mated with 
 eternity. 
 
XLIII 
 
 ON HEROISM 
 
 WHEN I read of the heroes of old, 
 I bow my head in shame. Was 
 it for such as I that they sang in the fire, 
 preached joyously in prison, faced lions 
 with a smile ? What gain to me from 
 all their heroism if I am to go through 
 life shrinking before human disapproval, 
 covetous at sight of others' good, and 
 weak with disappointment and discon- 
 tent? What boots it that I know the 
 way of heroism if I do not walk in it, or 
 that I admire the brave if I do not imi- 
 tate their bravery ? I count men's words 
 of praise as a miser counts his coin. I 
 lose the good I have in longing for other 
 goods. My desire to help men falls 
 down dead at shock of a discourtesy. 
 And so falsely do I train my inclinations 
 and my feelings that those circumstances 
 85 
 
86 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 seem most material to me which my rea- 
 son tells me are most immaterial, and 
 the essentials of happy usefulness are 
 tossed aside. thou who didst create 
 men and their world, and who with all 
 thy loving nearness to us art so inde- 
 pendent of us, grant to me, thy creature, 
 something of thine independence. Be 
 "thou my satisfaction, my sufficient praise, 
 my ease, my goods, my world. Teach 
 me that if I regard thee, I need not re- 
 gard men, save with the brave love 
 wherewith thou dost regard them, — the 
 love that gives, but does not require. 
 Help me to be so much thy creature, 
 my Father, that I may not be the crea- 
 ture of thy world. 
 
XLIV 
 
 ON HIDING SORROW 
 
 IT was only a moment's trouble, soon 
 to be chased away by work and plea- 
 sure ; but I named it as I left my dear 
 ones, and darkened the day for them. 
 Why do I thoughtlessly force others to 
 share my sorrows when they cannot 
 share their transformation into joy ? 
 Nay ; why not give others my joys, and 
 keep my sorrows to myself? I want 
 sympathy, and my dear ones want to 
 give it, that is true ; but their sympathy 
 will find calls enough from griefs and 
 pains I cannot hide ; let me not weight 
 it overmuch. It does not lighten these 
 petty worries to thrust them on others' 
 shoulders ; I merely add to my own the 
 burden of shame and remorse. Let me, 
 rather, hide bravely my troubles when I 
 can, and lighten them by lightening the 
 87 
 
88 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 load of some dear one. Does not the 
 Bible hint to me that I may best bear 
 my own burdens by bearing the burdens 
 of others ? Dear Lord, how often my 
 querulousness magnifies a cloud no 
 larger, to my own life, than a man's 
 hand, into a blackness that covers all 
 the heavens for those who love me ! 
 Dear Lord, could they know, as thou 
 dost know, how lightly rest upon me 
 these troubles of mine they take so seri- 
 ously ! O Christ, who on earth didst 
 never parade thy sorrow, but even at 
 its deadliest withdrew it under the dark 
 olive-trees in the Garden, teach my 
 tongue fit silence from its little frets, 
 that thus my heart may come to dis- 
 regard them. Teach me to exhibit my 
 life to others in its just proportions, not 
 sadder than it is to my loved ones, and 
 sunnier than it is to all beside. So, 
 when great sorrows come, I shall have 
 gained strength to bear them, and shall 
 have laid up in my loved ones a reservoir 
 of cheer. 
 
XLV 
 
 ON THANKSGIVING 
 
 HOW grateful I should be to God 
 that his kindness does not cease 
 with my gratitude ! Each day that adds 
 to God's unfailing mercies heaps higher 
 the shame of my discontent. The dull 
 earth carries in its heart the stored-up 
 memory of past sunshine and fruitful 
 showers, and shows on its daily face the 
 tokens of them all ; but from my duller 
 soul a moment's annoyance wipes away 
 all remembrance of joy. I am ashamed 
 before the blithe stanchness of the trees. 
 The fresh and smiling air upbraids me. 
 The glowing sentences of the Book point 
 fingers at me. I am rebuked by a myriad 
 of bright faces, shining with the beauty 
 of thanksgiving. Thou k no west my life, 
 O God. Thou hast seen me choose 
 darkness rather than light. Thou hast 
 8 9 
 
9 o GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 heard my complaining lips snarl at the 
 songs of thy saints. Day after day 
 thy angels of cheer have knocked at 
 my gloomy doors. Thou dost know 
 all my perversity. But my heart is bold, 
 for thou knowest also my sorrow. My 
 shame is no less, but my hope is strong 
 because thou dost see my shame. I can 
 bar thy joy from my life, but I cannot 
 shut out thy pity. In thy great mercy, 
 pitying Father, lift from my life its load 
 of discontent. Win for thyself an en- 
 trance into my gloom, and lead me forth. 
 All the wisdom of the world cannot 
 teach me joy. All the power of the 
 world cannot force it upon me. All the 
 happiness of the world cannot shame 
 me to it. Grant me, strong and loving 
 Father, out of thine abundant grace, the 
 grace of thanksgiving. 
 
XLVI 
 
 ON SINGLENESS OF MIND 
 
 I AM so careworn about many things 
 that it is plain I am not seeking the 
 one great thing. Or, if I seek it, it is 
 with the carelessness that lets itself be 
 vexed with other cares. When I hold 
 the overmastering thought of God, I am 
 not held of my worries. When I am 
 directed of thee, O my Father, my per- 
 plexing tasks find swift direction, and 
 march in ordered submission. When I 
 have placed thy will first, it gives my 
 will power to control and to accomplish. 
 If my life is troubled, it is only for lack 
 of thy peace. If calls to diverse duties 
 harass me, it is because I have not lis- 
 tened to thy single call. How much time 
 I have lost, blunderingly striving to use 
 thy time ! How much energy I have 
 wasted, wrongly choosing my work! 
 
92 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 Thou doest myriad deeds where I do 
 one. All the countless intricacies of 
 the universe move in harmony to nicely 
 adjusted ends. There is no fret, no 
 friction, in thy workshops. And thou 
 wilt send to my workshop all this power 
 and skill. O Lord, forgive thy foolish 
 servant, who, like a headstrong appren- 
 tice, thought he had learned to direct. 
 Work thy will with me, since not other- 
 wise can I work my will for myself. 
 
XLVII 
 
 ON OPPOSITION 
 
 WHEN my words, meant for right, 
 are turned from their meaning, 
 why am I discomfited ? When my plans 
 are opposed, plans that I think God's 
 plans, too, why should I be downcast ? 
 When men range themselves against me, 
 me who have God on my side, what is 
 more foolish than anger ? O my Father, 
 is it only when I complain of thy provi- 
 dences that I really hold thee all-powerful 
 to work righteousness ? I have been 
 dreading what the evil may do, as if 
 thou wert weaker than they. Their 
 words have provoked me, for I have for- 
 gotten the thunders of thy judgment. I 
 have feared their designs, for I have for- 
 gotten thy counsels. Their harsh glances 
 have embittered me, for I have lost sight 
 / of thy countenance. Their anger has 
 
 93 
 
94 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 filled me with wrath, for I have not set 
 before me thy love. Thou whose honor 
 man's dishonor cannot mar, teach me 
 that it cannot mar mine. Thou whose 
 cause is its own great defence, teach me 
 rather to find safety in it than seek 
 safety for it. Thou who dost not mar 
 w T ith passion or trembling the majestic 
 progress of thy plans, teach me that thy 
 plans need still less either my anger or 
 my fears. Make it my one wish for my 
 work, not that it may not fail, but that 
 it may be espoused ^by the unfailing 
 One. 
 
XLVIII 
 
 ON UNSEEN THINGS 
 
 I AM living in my body as if I were 
 to live in it forever, and I may be 
 done with it to-morrow. What I shall 
 eat, wherewithal I shall be clothed, how 
 I shall be housed, — such are not fit 
 broodings for one who soon, at longest, 
 will need no food or clothes or shelter, 
 save the full delights of the many man- 
 sions. Walls light as a whisper part me 
 from an existence wherein no pain is, no 
 tears, no failure, wherein loved ones 
 know how we love, wherein scholars see 
 swift visions of all truth, and the plea- 
 sures we have made for ourselves are 
 forgotten in, the joys thou dost make for 
 us, O God of all happiness. The life 
 that now is, rich portal to thy blessed 
 home, I look upon as an abode, and find 
 it cold and cheerless. Teach me, O God, 
 
 95 
 
96 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 the sane and heavenward look. Why 
 should I fret at any failure here — failure 
 of love or knowledge, power or skill, 
 while the life of full fruition touches my 
 uneasy life at every point, and offers 
 perfect comfort ? Only a swing of the 
 great pendulum of eternity, only an in- 
 stant, as I shall look back on time, and 
 all my heaviest troubles will seem more 
 foolish than my childhood's griefs seem 
 now. Help me, Ancient of days, to live 
 in that happy time, while I work in the 
 present. I am tired of serving the 
 earth ; teach me immortality. 
 
XLIX 
 
 ON REMEMBERING 
 
 IT is easy to draw doubt and depres- 
 sion from my past; it is hard to 
 draw from it inspiration and hope. Yet 
 I should win as much cheer from the 
 times when God has upheld me, as de- 
 spair from the times when I, in my own 
 power, have failed. I cherish in memory 
 my defeats rather than God's victories. 
 A thousand times God has empowered 
 me to do this thing, and still I shrink 
 from it as if God and his tasks had not 
 been tried. Not thus am I to become a 
 veteran of the Lord. Not thus will the 
 fulness of almighty strength, vouchsafed 
 to daily need and weak-winged prayers, 
 be builded into my eternal character. 
 O feeble heart and foolish memory, how 
 many trials and proofs do you need for 
 assurance ? When will you trust the 
 
 97 
 
98 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 Lord, if not now ? Had earthly friend 
 been half as faithful, had mortal father 
 been half as constant and kind, your 
 confidence would rest unmovable on the 
 rock of that experience. Because God 
 is unseen, will you distrust his love, 
 which is seen ? Because God does 
 not speak with human voice, will you 
 scorn his eloquent providences ? And 
 will you dare to expect continued help 
 from the God whose unfailing power 
 your cowardice denies ? O my soul, be 
 strong in the Lord ! In sweet remem- 
 brance of his comforting presence, in 
 brave remembrance of his upholding, 
 in bold reliance on his forgiveness of 
 your weakness, be strong in the Lord ! 
 
ON CHRISTMAS 
 
 THERE will come, some glad day, 
 a new Christmas, when Christ will 
 be with men in visible form once more, 
 to stand by our side, his loving hand 
 holding ours, his strong voice moving 
 the rejoicing air, his kind eye piercing 
 to the hearts of men. I shall have no 
 more worries, when he comes, for in 
 him is fulness of joy. I shall have no 
 griefs, when he comes, for he will bear 
 all my burdens. When he comes, I 
 shall be no more perplexed, for his 
 wisdom is unfailing. All these things, 
 together with sins and follies and vex- 
 ations innumerable, will threaten my 
 Christmas peace, unless he come. Oh, 
 our Lord Christ, come this Christmas ! 
 Thy weary world is waiting eagerly, and 
 every Christmas more eagerly, for the 
 
ioo GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 glory and the health of thy coming. 
 But art thou not here — or why am I 
 talking with thee ? What should matter 
 the sight of the eye, the touch of the 
 hand, to one whose eye is soon to fail 
 and hand to crumble into dust ? Art 
 thou not here, in this room, blessed 
 Master, as really as ever in the upper 
 chamber at Jerusalem? Do I not see 
 thee, with the sight of heaven, and hear 
 thee, somewhat as seraphs hear? Thou 
 hast come into my life in clouds of glory, 
 with thy holy angels. Every day, when 
 I receive thee, thou dost make a merry 
 Christmas. So let it be with this gra- 
 cious season. Open my faithless eyes 
 and my infidel ears, and teach me to 
 know thee. Be present in my life as 
 really as my sister, my mother. One 
 day with thee, O Christ, as one day with 
 thee might be, and I think I could never 
 be alone, and never lack a Christmas. 
 
LI 
 
 ON FEAR FOR OTHERS 
 
 SO many perils are round about my 
 loved ones, — perils of sudden sick- 
 ness, or of slow ailments concealed from 
 me ; perils of accidents, from the forces 
 of nature, or the forces of man ; perils 
 of long grief, wasting desire, and lost 
 hope; so much of evil that may be 
 coming to them, unseen by me, unseen 
 by them, and inevitable. What can I 
 do to assure the joy of my loved ones, 
 their health of body and better health 
 of mind ? What can I do to guard them 
 from malady and myself from loneliness 
 and sorrow ? For what should I do 
 without my loved ones ? Ah, thou that 
 knowest hearts, how much of this burden 
 of fear is for myself ! Yet thou wilt 
 regard the purity of my prayer, and sift 
 its imperfections. Better to my loved 
 
io2 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 ones is danger guarded by thee than 
 safety preserved by myself. Better for 
 them is thy sickness and grief and de- 
 spair than my perfectings of joy. Yes ; 
 and better for them is my abandonment 
 of them than my fretfulness for them, if 
 I yield them up to thee. Why should I, 
 who perform so poorly the lower care 
 for my dear ones, think of the higher ? 
 Until I can make the one day brighter, 
 let me leave their years to thee. Until 
 I have fed more faithfully the common 
 sources of their healthful cheer, let me 
 cease to worry about their long sorrows 
 or long joys. So shall I trustfully carry 
 out the trust thou hast committed to 
 me, and not imperil it by presumption. 
 Teach me, loving Father, to love as 
 knowing thee. 
 
LII 
 
 ON THE COMING YEAR 
 
 WHAT is before me in the coming 
 year ? God has hidden it from 
 me because I could not bear its sorrows. 
 There are failures as wretched as any in 
 the past, griefs as bitter, longings un- 
 satisfied, ideals unattained. Or if in any 
 way I may grow stronger and happier, a 
 year's improvement will be almost un- 
 noticed. And there are old sorrows 
 that time will not soften, because it has 
 not. I see them lying dark along the 
 way before me, reaching into the black 
 cloud, where they meet who knows 
 what coming dangers and changes and 
 pains ? God promises me no better 
 years than he has given me. Indeed, 
 what am I that I should ask for better 
 years ? God is greater than my prayers 
 have ever been. God is more eager 
 103 
 
104 GOLDEN RULE MEDITATIONS 
 
 than my complaints. If nothing else in 
 the universe were sure, this would be, 
 that God has given me all the good I 
 could bear. Uplifts from many a failure 
 prove it, fierce griefs assuaged, desires 
 crowned with fulfilment, and years led 
 through crooked paths of self-will, yet 
 ever, by God's grace, to a wider life. 
 Forgive my weak forebodings, loving 
 Father. Truly I know that thou hast 
 hidden the coming year from me, not 
 because its sorrows are so great, but 
 because I am not strong enough for its 
 joys. What wonderful things await me, 
 back of the sweetly mysterious cloud ! 
 There must be deeper knowledge, for 
 thou wilt continue to teadi me ; and fuller 
 love, for the years bloom ever the richer 
 with it ; and wider friendships, for my 
 old friends continually bring me new 
 ones ; blessed changes that mean no 
 loss or sorrow, but only the keenness 
 of joy. I will go forth into the year 
 with thee, O thou who never with- 
 holdest ! 
 
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