Theism Doctrinal and Practical, or, Didactic Religious Utterances. By Francis W. Newman |
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Joy and Consolation.
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 | Theism |  |
Joy and Consolation.
Joy is not to be expected from meditations on an Afterworld,
On which some would have our minds fondly dwell.
For by the wisdom of our God no material is surely given,
On which either desire or imagination may repose.
Otherwise, might preoccupation of heart on a nobler scene
Draw away energies needed for improving the present.
A little garden in this world is given for our culture,
Little in itself, great for us, too great alas! for most of us.
On this must we bestow ourselves, undistracted by the future;
Just as the sailor in a strong breeze, when sails are to be shifted,
Thinks not of his country nor of his wife nor even of his God,
But of the sails and of the ship, of the winds and waves.
Yet the knowledge that he has a country and a home recruits his forces,
Filling his heart in short intervals with pleasant memories
And stimulating him in turn with sweeter hopes.
So may the belief in a future, hidden deep in the background,
Be as a fortress of support to spirits that else might faint,
When the armies of Evil are mighty and God seems not to rule.
On which some would have our minds fondly dwell.
For by the wisdom of our God no material is surely given,
On which either desire or imagination may repose.
Otherwise, might preoccupation of heart on a nobler scene
Draw away energies needed for improving the present.
A little garden in this world is given for our culture,
Little in itself, great for us, too great alas! for most of us.
On this must we bestow ourselves, undistracted by the future;
Just as the sailor in a strong breeze, when sails are to be shifted,
Thinks not of his country nor of his wife nor even of his God,
But of the sails and of the ship, of the winds and waves.
Yet the knowledge that he has a country and a home recruits his forces,
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And stimulating him in turn with sweeter hopes.
So may the belief in a future, hidden deep in the background,
Be as a fortress of support to spirits that else might faint,
When the armies of Evil are mighty and God seems not to rule.
In truth Joy must not be sought for, or it never will be won;
But Consolation may justly be sought by the heart outworn,
And Consolation is a precious balm sometimes possible to be given,
In calamity, under oppression, and under loss by death.
Hopes of a future life afford topics of comfort,
Only where speaker and hearer have a common faith,
And this is in truth far rarer than some imagine.
Where faith or care of a future life is weak,
Scarcely will you comfort a mourner by asserting it.
Or if a man mourns lawfully, yet selfishly,
For having lost one who was useful and a present comfort,
One who was not loved with pure unselfish love,
Poor is the consolation to the mourner, that his lost friend lives.
He grieves for his own present loss, which is real and solid,
Unchanged and unchangeable by spiritual doctrine.
Worldly sorrows crave after worldly reliefs,
Except where the crisis may lift the heart above itself.
Yet the father will not regain his child, nor the wife her husband;
And as to the positive loss, so far as it is personal,
If religion supply it, this is by the doctrine of a Present God,
Sympathizing, supporting, ordaining wisely,
Not by the doctrine of a Hereafter, which still withholds the lost.
Never will Faith be strengthened by exercise too hard.
Spiritually to believe in a Heaven, is an act for the spiritual;
To rejoice that a lost friend is there, belongs to the unselfish.
To the many, a better consolation is sympathy and small kindness,
And pointing to like sorrows which have been bravely borne,
And to the duties which forbid too absorbing a regret.
Such topics Nature everywhere teaches to the tender,
And the tender heart which uses them is itself a consolation,
Tho' wrapt in dark Paganism or in lonely Atheism.
But blessed are those who find God's Love ever present,
Light amid darkness, peace amid confusion,
A true Consolation, a solid present fact.
If Faith cannot alway be joyful, yet may it alway be strong,
Comforted by the fixed assurance, that God even now reigneth.
But Consolation may justly be sought by the heart outworn,
And Consolation is a precious balm sometimes possible to be given,
In calamity, under oppression, and under loss by death.
Hopes of a future life afford topics of comfort,
Only where speaker and hearer have a common faith,
And this is in truth far rarer than some imagine.
Where faith or care of a future life is weak,
Scarcely will you comfort a mourner by asserting it.
Or if a man mourns lawfully, yet selfishly,
For having lost one who was useful and a present comfort,
One who was not loved with pure unselfish love,
Poor is the consolation to the mourner, that his lost friend lives.
He grieves for his own present loss, which is real and solid,
Unchanged and unchangeable by spiritual doctrine.
Worldly sorrows crave after worldly reliefs,
Except where the crisis may lift the heart above itself.
Yet the father will not regain his child, nor the wife her husband;
And as to the positive loss, so far as it is personal,
If religion supply it, this is by the doctrine of a Present God,
Sympathizing, supporting, ordaining wisely,
Not by the doctrine of a Hereafter, which still withholds the lost.
Never will Faith be strengthened by exercise too hard.
Spiritually to believe in a Heaven, is an act for the spiritual;
To rejoice that a lost friend is there, belongs to the unselfish.
To the many, a better consolation is sympathy and small kindness,
And pointing to like sorrows which have been bravely borne,
And to the duties which forbid too absorbing a regret.
Such topics Nature everywhere teaches to the tender,
And the tender heart which uses them is itself a consolation,
Tho' wrapt in dark Paganism or in lonely Atheism.
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Light amid darkness, peace amid confusion,
A true Consolation, a solid present fact.
If Faith cannot alway be joyful, yet may it alway be strong,
Comforted by the fixed assurance, that God even now reigneth.
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