Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-06-03
by HENRY WARD BEEcmER.

Laziness is very bad. Incidence is bad
enough Leisure is respectable. But pas
sivity is superb And what is passivity
| Webster refers you to the word passive
ness, and then defines that a. the quality
Of receiving impressions from external
agents or causes"
The power of producing impressions is
called talent. And this faculty or power
is eminently respectable, and not likely,
in an age of railroads, factories and stock
companies, 70 be despised.
1t is the power of putting forth ones
thoughts, or Of exerting upon matter ones
inward forces. 1t is creative, architectic,
divine But the power Of receiving inn
/ pressions is even nobler.
After six creating days, il is said that
God was pleased, but only the seventh
day did he bless, and that, because that
in it he had rested from all his work" II
was the resting that pleased more than
the working. What that mysterious Di-
vine Rest was. no man can imagine. But
there il human experience, from which
we may deduee how supremely blessed it
was.
But the unfallen soul in conflict with
men. with matters bearing a strain of
care. feeling the sadness Of imperfection,
and chorded 10 that undertone of sorrow
which rolls under all the noises Of active
life, il most happy. There are hours Of
notable Joy TO the soul in conflict. There
are wonderful CIVILIZATIONS in climacteric
moments Of supreme activity. They are
transient. They are by their exquisite
ness out Of proportion 10 the rest Of life.
They cannot be linked together and con-
tinued Such experiences, repeated in
successive hours, would throw upon the
day a fiery chain, every link fame, and
the whole speedily consuming the
strength, and reducing life TO ashes. No.
men are not built yet for excess in Joy
The walls are not built yet for excess in
ioy. The walls are not strong enough.
Ec-tacy wastes the substance OF year ina
a single hour.
Far lower in key-far less strenuous AZ
tone. and therefore far better for our NOR
tai state, are the joys of passivity-the
deep delight of rest days. Not sluggard's
days Not days of stupor and sleep And
vet sleep is blessed-the sleep of a strong
tired nature \ plunge into darkness :
Hours without soundings, A voyage
through humiliation, 4 death that does
not slay A long sleep, without STIR or
dream. or remotest consciousness until
the day-dawn, and the spirit comes back
ayain from the deep sea, as bubbles OF air
riss from the ocean 10 join themselves 10
the great atmosphere above. Ah, boys
do ycu know that you are rich every
night IL blessings that money nor arnbl-
tons power can compass: Yet sleep l.
not the most blessed thing.
There are dsys in which Nature courts
a.. - L.
soul reaches forth Tor nothing. 1t must
be sought. 1t i sought The morning
waits Tor IL and unfolis without fiction
myriad influences. Tbs evening with
countless tender influences steals upon il.
Hour after hour, the day long. the soul
lies passive but not dormant. The bril-
liant panorama of the clouds passes by,
and the heavens unfold 10 the Imagination
the silent drama Lying beneath the
shadowing trees. all the growing things
above and along the ground send infuen-
ces to the soul. The birds sing, the in
A'ects harp, the winds sigh, for the souls
4. light
A thousand fancies rise in you without
labt r. The memories of pain are gone.
The conflicts of life are like the storms so
far orn at sea that land knows of it only by
the rom III ana SilOOin W hANh ASeANA
the shor and break on IL in music J
Peace com Is to you unbidden. Your soul
i like a sur. amer tree into which fly num-
berless birds, that plumes themselves and
sing unbidden among the branches, nor
does all the w.hir of leaves scare them
away
In these hours of Divine Passivity the
soul is like a might, harbor, and thither
flock the ships of al nations. bearing
precious commodities fr om every CLINE.
They come of their own VIII. The harbor
doth not send for them. Ii lbs tranquil
and is sought From lis surface reflects
hull and sail every cord, and every color
IF the ship weary of the sea
Such days of rest come with every sea-
'on yet are chiefly found in early AMI
ate summer days June and October are
Gods two months in the year They are
The two grand Sabbaths, May Is full Of
abor pains. In june life l. confirmed
Youth is at its full. In October the sum-
ner Is ripe; it's yellow work is done. june
and October are the months of the elect
souls Oh We my own brothers. my sis
ter of the heart wherever We be, of what
tongue soever, hail you with ever-grow-
ing joys and blessings We will meet in
the coming June, not in body but in spirit
the great church Of the silent ones
which neither strive nor cry, but VIII"
nave been diyinely taught TO find in
sweet silence, and in an all sensitive rest.
the blessings which God pronounced up
1n his own SABBATH Our spirits flock to-
yether.
Our temple is the whole earth. Our
priest is nature; and our high priest
God !-Leoiger.