The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-06-17
June HAS CONN.
BIZ HENRY wARp BEEcHER.

| Laziness is very bad. Incidence Is
bad enough. Leisure is respectable, but
paszivity is superb! And what is passiv-
| ity? Webster refers YOU to the word pas
siveness, and then defines that as ''the
| quality of receiving impressions from ex-
ternal agents or causes"
The power of producing impressions IS
called talent And this faculty or power
il eminently respectable, and not likely,
! in an age of railroads, factories, and stock
companies, to be despised.
1t is the power of putting forth ones
thoughts, or of exerting upon matter one
inward forces II is creative, architectlc,
divinel But the power of receiving I'M
pressions is even nobler.
After six creating days, its is said that
God was pleased, but only the seventh
| day did he bless, and that, 'sbecause that
! in it he had rested from all his work" 1t
was the resting that pleased more than
the working What that mysterious DI-
vine Rest was no man may imagine. But
there is a human experience, from which
we may deduce how supremely blessed II
was
But the unfallen soul in conflict with
men, with matters bearing strain OF care
! feeling the sadness of imperfectlon, and
chorded to that undertone of sorrow which
rolls under all the noises of active life, Is
most happy. There are hours of notable
/ iov to the soul in conflict. There are
/ wonderful civilizations in climacteric mo-
ments of supreme activity. They are
transient They are by their exquisite
ness out of proportion to the rest Of life.
They cannot be linked together and con-
| tinued Such experiences, repeated III
| successive hours, would throw upon the
| day a fiery flame, and the whole speedily
consuming the strength and reducing life
Ito ashes. MOI men are not built yet for
/ iovl The walls are not strong enough. =
/ Ecstacv wastes the substance Of a year in
| a single hour.
| Far lower in key--far less strenuous in
tone. and therefore, far better for our
moral state, are the days of "passivity-
the deep delights Of rest days. Not slug
CARDS days. Not days of stupor and
sleep. And yetsl0ep is blessed-the sleep
of strong, tired nature! A plunge into
darkness! Hours without sOundings! A
voyage through annihilationl A death
that does not slayl A long sleep without
until the day dawn, and the spirit comes
back again from the deep sea, as bubbles
of air rise from the ocean to join them
selves to the great atmosphere above. All,
boys! do YOU know that you are rich every
night in blessings that money nor ambi-
TONS power can compass? Yet, sleep is
not the most blessed thing.
There are DAYS in which Nature courts
the soul Like coy and tiplid spirit, the
soul reaches forth for nothing. 1t must
be sought. 1t is sought. The morning
waits for it, and unfolds without fiction
myriad influences. The evening with
countless tender influences, steals upon it.
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 to the imagination
the silent drama. Lying beneath the
shadowing trees all the growing things
above and along the ground, send ipflu-
ences to the soul. The birds sing, the
insects harp, the winds sigh, ror the souls
delight.
A thousand fancies rise in you without
labor The memories of pain are gone
The conflicts of life are like the storms so
far out at sea that the land knows of it
only by the round and smooth waves
which reach the shore and break on it in
music! Peace comes to you unbidden.-
Your soul is like summer tree into
which fy numberless birds, that plume
themselves and sing unbidden among the
branches, nor does all the whir of leaves
scare them away.
In these hours of Divine Passivity the
soul is like mighty harbor, and thither
flock ships of all nations, bearing pre-
cious commodities from every cline
They come of their own viii. The har-
Dor doth not send for them. 1t lies tran
quill, and is sought. From its surface
reflects hull and sail, every cord, and ev-
cry color of the ship weary of the sea.
Such days of rest come with every sea-
son; yet are chiefly found in early and
late summer days. June and October
are Gods two months in the year. They
are the two grand Sabbaths! May is full
of labor pains. In June life is confirm
ed. Youth is at its full. In October the
summer is ripe; its yellow work is done.
June and October are the months of the
elect souls Oh ye my own brothers,
my sisters of the heart, wherever We be,
of what tongue soever, l hail you with
over-growing joys and blessings! We will
meet in the coming June, not in body,
but in spirit-the great church of the 81
lent ones-which neither strive nor cry,
but who have been divinely taught to find
in a sweet silence, and in an all-sensitive
Rest, the blessing which God pronounced
upon his own Sabbath! Our spirits flock
together.
Our temple is the whole earth, Our
Priest is nature; and our High Priest
God!