Stories

Each of these quotes can tell several tales, if you care to listen. Their stories are intertwined, as are all men's, but are as disparate as their characters. Foremost, they are a part of a longer work, whether fact or fiction, written for a purpose. They also tell us something about the author, by what they say or by what they leave out. No one can write something without putting part of oneself into it, for others to see or to overlook. Then, they convey something about their readers. We would not read books if we could not identify with the characters or ideas in some way; if we could not see ourselves or others in the Númenóreans or in the poetry. Something in each of these quotes caught my eye that made me record it here. I may not know what it was any more than you do. But its inmost note vibrated either in harmony or dissonance with my feelings when I read it. If I posted it here, it probably still does. Finally, they tell your story. Whatever you impute to them comes ultimately from yourself. We know ourselves only through what we see in others. What's your story?

The Pilgrim's Progress

I took notice of what was very remarkable: the water of that river [of Death] was lower at this time than ever I saw it in all my life; so he [Mr. Fearing] went over at last, not much above wetshod.

—John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Part 2: The Sixth Stage.

Father Brown on Sleep

Do you know what sleep is? Do you know that every man who sleeps believes in God? It is a sacrament; for it is an act of faith and it is a food.

—Father Brown, in G. K. Chesterton's The Honour of Israel Gow (The Complete Father Brown ch6)

Abigail Adams

It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.... The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. All history will convince you of this, and that wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.

—Abigail Adams, quoted in David McCullough, John Adams p226

The Lost Road

"That cannot be, even if I wish it. It is against the law."

"It is against the rule. Laws are commands upon the will and are binding. Rules are conditions; they may have exceptions."

"But are there ever any exceptions?"

"Rules may be strict, yet they are the means, not the ends, of government. There are exceptions; for there is that which governs and is above the rules. Behold, it is by the chinks in the wall that light comes through, whereby men become aware of the light and therein perceive the wall and how it stands. The veil is woven, and each thread goes an appointed course, tracing a design; yet the tissue is not impenetrable, or the design would not be guessed; and if the design were not guessed, the veil would not be perceived, and all would dwell in darkness.... To each under the rule some unique fate is given, and one is exempted from that which is a rule to others."

—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lost Road, The History of Middle-Earth V, p48.

Þus cwæþ Ælfwine Wídlást

Þus cwæþ Ælfwine Wídlást:
Fela bið on Westwegum werum uncúðra,
wundra ond wihta, wlitescyne lond,
eardgeard Ylfa ond Ésa bliss.
Lýt ǽnig wát hwylc his longað síe
þám þe eftsíðes yldu getwǽfeð.

Thus spake Ælfwine the far-travelled: "Many things there are in the West-regions unknown to Men, marvels and strange beings: a land lovely to behold, the homeland of the Elves and the bliss of the Gods. Little doth any man know what longing is his whom old age cutteth off from return."

—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lost Road, The History of Middle-Earth V, pp 44, 103, and 203.

And Let this Feeble Body Fail

"The sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed to us." - Romans 8:18.

And let this feeble body fail,
And let it droop and die;
My soul shall quit the mournful vale,
And soar to worlds on high;
Shall join the disembodied saints,
And find its long-sought rest,
(That only bliss for which it pants)
In my Redeemer's breast.

In hope of that immortal crown,
I now the cross sustain,
And gladly wander up and down,
And smile at toil and pain:
I suffer out my threescore years,
Till my Deliverer come,
And wipe away his servant's tears,
And take his exile home.

Surely he will not long delay:
I hear his Spirit cry,
"Arise, my love, make haste away!
Go, get thee up, and die.
O'er death, who now has lost his sting,
I give thee victory;
And with me my reward I bring,
I bring my heaven for thee."

O what hath Jesus bought for me!
Before my ravished eyes
Givers of life divine I see,
And trees of paradise;
They flourish in perpetual bloom,
Fruit every month they give;
And to the healing leaves who come
Eternally shall live.

I see a world of spirits bright
Who reap the pleasures there;
They all are robed in purest white,
And conquering palms they bear:
Adorned by their Redeemer's grace,
They close pursue the Lamb;
And every shining front displays
The unutterable name.

They drink the vivifying stream,
They pluck the ambrosial fruit,
And each records the praise of him
Who tuned his golden lute:
At once they strike the harmonious wire,
And hymn the great Three-One:
He hears; he smiles; and all the choir
Fall down before his throne.

O what are all my sufferings here,
If, Lord, thou count me meet
With that enraptured host to appear,
And worship at thy feet!
Give joy or grief, give ease or pain,
Take life or friends away:
I come, to find them all again
In that eternal day.

—Charles Wesley, the first verse of which was quoted in Harriet Beecher Stowe, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, volume 2 chapter 11 p368.

Dred

The mouth of the North is stuffed with cotton, and will be kept full as long as it suits us.

—Harriet Beecher Stowe, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, volume 2 chapter 32 p537.

Revelations of Divine Love

Before this I had had a great and longing desire that God should give me deliverance from this life. I had often considered the woes of this present world, and the joys and blessedness of the future. Even if there had been no suffering in this life, but no Lord either, I sometimes thought it would have been more than I could have borne. This grieved me, and made me long all the more eagerly. Besides, because of my own wretchedness, slothfulness, and incapacity, I did not want to live and toil as it fell to me to do.

To all this our Lord in his courtesy gave me an answer that brought comfort and patience. He said, "Suddenly you will be taken from all your pain, all your sickness, all your discomfort, and all your woe. You will come up above, with me as your reward, and you will be filled to the full with love and blessedness. Never again will there be any sort of suffering, or unhappiness, or failure of will. It will be all joy and bliss eternally. Why should it grieve you to suffer a while, seeing that this is my will and my glory?

–Dame Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, translated by Clifton Wolters, ch64 p177.

Proverbs 24:21-22

My son, fear the LORD and the king;
Do not associate with those who are given to change,
For their calamity will rise suddenly,
And who knows the ruin that comes from both of them?

—Proverbs 24:21-22 NASB