It will be generally admitted that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man. All sorts and conditions are satisfied by it. Whether you are like Mrs. Munt, and tap surreptitiously when the tunes come—of course, not so as to disturb the others—or like Helen, who can see heroes and shipwrecks in the music’s flood; or like Margaret, who can only see the music; or like Tibby, who is profoundly versed in counterpoint, and holds the full score open on his knee; or like their cousin, Fraulein Mosebach, who remembers all the time that Beethoven is echt Deutsch; or like Fraulein Mosebach’s young man, who can remember nothing but Fraulein Mosebach: in any case, the passion of your life becomes more vivid as you listen....
The music started with a goblin walking quietly over the universe, from end to end. Others followed him. They were not aggressive creatures; it was that that made them so terrible to Helen. They merely observed in passing that there was no such thing as splendour or heroism in the world. After an interlude of elephants dancing, they returned and made the observation for the second time. Helen could not contradict them, for, once at all events, she had felt the same, and had seen the reliable walls of youth collapse. Panic and emptiness! Panic and emptiness! The goblins were right.
But, as if things were going too far, Beethoven took hold of the goblins and made them do what he wanted. He appeared in person. He gave them a little push, and they began to walk in a major key instead of in a minor, and then—he blew with his mouth and they were scattered! Gusts of splendour, gods and demigods contending with vast swords, colour and fragrance broadcast on the field of battle, magnificent victory, magnificent death!
Oh, it all burst before the girl, and she even stretched out her gloved hands as if it was tangible. Any fate was titanic; any contest desirable; conqueror and conquered would alike be applauded by the angels of the utmost stars. And the goblins—they had not really been there at all? They were only the phantoms of cowardice and unbelief? One healthy human impulse would dispel them?
Beethoven knew better. The goblins really had been there. They might return—and they did. It was as if the splendour of life might boil over and waste to steam and froth. In its dissolution one heard the terrible, ominous note, and a goblin, with increased malignity, walked quietly over the universe from end to end. Panic and emptiness! Panic and emptiness! Even the flaming ramparts of the world might fall. Beethoven chose to make all right in the end. He built the ramparts up. He blew with his mouth for the second time, and again the goblins were scattered. He brought back the gusts of splendour, the heroism, the youth, the magnificence of life and of death, and, amid vast roarings of a superhuman joy, he led his Fifth Symphony to its conclusion. But the goblins were there. They could return. He had said so bravely, and that is why one can trust Beethoven when he says other things.
—E.M. Forster, Howards End.
What hath God promised?
God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river, turbid and deep.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
—Annie J. Flint, 1919.
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river, turbid and deep.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
—Annie J. Flint, 1919.
The Eternity of God
O Lord! my heart is sick,
Sick of this everlasting change;
And life runs tediously quick
Through its unresting race and varied range:
Change finds no likeness to itself in Thee
And wakes no echo in Thy mute eternity.
Dear Lord! my heart is sick
Of this perpetual lapsing time,
So slow in grief, in joy so quick,
Yet ever casting shadows so sublime:
Time of all creatures is least like to Thee,
And yet it is our share of Thine eternity.
...
Farewell, vain joys of earth!
Farewell, all love that is not His!
Dear God! be Thou my only mirth,
Thy Majesty my single timid bliss!
Oh in the bosom of eternity
Thou dost not weary of Thyself, nor we of Thee!
—Frederick William Faber, Hymns
Sick of this everlasting change;
And life runs tediously quick
Through its unresting race and varied range:
Change finds no likeness to itself in Thee
And wakes no echo in Thy mute eternity.
Dear Lord! my heart is sick
Of this perpetual lapsing time,
So slow in grief, in joy so quick,
Yet ever casting shadows so sublime:
Time of all creatures is least like to Thee,
And yet it is our share of Thine eternity.
...
Farewell, vain joys of earth!
Farewell, all love that is not His!
Dear God! be Thou my only mirth,
Thy Majesty my single timid bliss!
Oh in the bosom of eternity
Thou dost not weary of Thyself, nor we of Thee!
—Frederick William Faber, Hymns
Falling in Love
That day I oft remember, when from sleep
I first awaked, and found myself reposed
Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where
And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
Of waters issued from a cave, and spread
Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved
Pure as the expanse of Heaven; I thither went
With unexperienced thought, and laid me down
On the green bank, to look into the clear
Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.
As I bent down to look, just opposite
A shape within the watery gleam appeared,
Bending to look on me: I started back,
It started back; but pleased I soon returned,
Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks
Of sympathy and love: There I had fixed
Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warned me; 'What thou seest,
'What there thou seest, fair Creature, is thyself;
'With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
'And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
'Thy coming…
—John Milton, Paradise Lost.
I first awaked, and found myself reposed
Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where
And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
Of waters issued from a cave, and spread
Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved
Pure as the expanse of Heaven; I thither went
With unexperienced thought, and laid me down
On the green bank, to look into the clear
Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.
As I bent down to look, just opposite
A shape within the watery gleam appeared,
Bending to look on me: I started back,
It started back; but pleased I soon returned,
Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks
Of sympathy and love: There I had fixed
Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warned me; 'What thou seest,
'What there thou seest, fair Creature, is thyself;
'With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
'And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
'Thy coming…
—John Milton, Paradise Lost.
City People
On the way from the railroad station he had walked tall in the mass of moving metal and concrete speckled with the very small eyes of people. His head jerked backwards after each passing figure until they began to pass too thickly and he observed that their eyes didn't grab at you like the eyes of country people. Several of them bumped into him and this contact that should have made an acquaintance for life made nothing because the hulks shoved on with ducked heads and muttered apologies that he would have accepted if they had waited. You have to do something particular here to make them look at you, he thought. They ain't going to look at you just because God made you.
—Flannery O'Connor, You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead and The Violent Bear It Away.
—Flannery O'Connor, You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead and The Violent Bear It Away.
Elegy
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow;
I am the sun on ripened grain;
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awake in morning’s hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight;
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
—Mary Elizabeth Frye, 1932.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow;
I am the sun on ripened grain;
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awake in morning’s hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight;
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
—Mary Elizabeth Frye, 1932.
Confessions
Oh you sons of men, how long will you be dull at heart? Even now, after the descent of life to you, do you not wish to ascend and live? But how can you ascend when you have set yourselves up on high and have placed your mouth against heaven? Descend, so that you may ascend—so that you may ascend to God. For you have fallen by rising against God.
—St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 4 Chapter 12.
—St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 4 Chapter 12.
Love Me Irrationally
When we meet again you may be disappointed on finding that I look different from the lovely picture your tender imagination has painted of me. I don't want you to love me for qualities you assume in me, in fact not for any qualities; you must love me as irrationally as other people love, just because I love you, and you don't have to be ashamed of it.
—Sigmund Freud, Letters, 1884, #33, page 89.
Misquoted in Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality, Substantial Healing of Psychological Problems, page 129, as:
When you come to me, little Princess, love me irrationally.
Besides, this was ten years before Freud began studying psychoanalysis.
—Sigmund Freud, Letters, 1884, #33, page 89.
Misquoted in Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality, Substantial Healing of Psychological Problems, page 129, as:
When you come to me, little Princess, love me irrationally.
Besides, this was ten years before Freud began studying psychoanalysis.
Boswell's Johnson
Dr. Johnson said of the Turkish Spy that it told nothing but what every body might have known at that time; and that what was good in it, did not pay you for the trouble of reading to find it.
—James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 5, Thursday, 21 October 1773, p341.
—James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 5, Thursday, 21 October 1773, p341.
Theological Questions
1. How does it appear that something has existed from eternity?
2. How does it appear that this earth and the visible system are not from
eternity?
3. How does it appear that the existence of man is derived and dependent?
4. How do you prove the natural perfections of God, viz. his intelligence,
infinite power, foreknowledge, and immutability?
5. How do you prove his moral perfections, that he is a friend of virtue, or
absolutely holy, true, just, and good?
6. How do you prove that the Scriptures are a revelation from God? And
what are the evidences, internal and external?
7. How do you prove the divine mission of Christ?
8. How do you prove the divinity of Christ?
9. How do you prove the personality and divinity of the Holy Ghost?
10. How do you prove that the persons in the Trinity are one God?
11. Whence arose the Manichean notion of two Gods, and how is it
confuted?
12. Whence arose the polytheism of the pagans, and how confuted?
13. Whence was it that the knowledge of the one true God, in which Noah
was instructed, was not preserved among his posterity in all ages?
14. Why are not mankind in all ages (their internal faculties and external
advantages being sufficient) united in right sentiments of the one true
God?
15. Were the moral character of God and the moral law understood and
loved, would there be any objections against revealed religion?
16. What is the true idea of God’s decrees?
17. How do you prove absolute and particular election?
18. Did God decree the existence of sin?
19. Why did God decree sin?
20. In what sense did he introduce sin into the universe?
21. How do you reconcile this with the holiness and goodness of God?
22. What is necessary to constitute a moral agent?
23. Are men moral and free agents?
24. What is the difference between natural and moral power and inability?
25. How is absolute moral necessity, or inability, consistent with the free
agency of men?
26. How is the doctrine of universal, absolute decrees, consistent with the
free agency of men?
27. How do you prove an universal and special providence?
28. What is the covenant of redemption?
29. If man was created in original righteousness, how is that consistent
with moral agency? It being said that a necessary holiness is no
holiness.
30. What was the constitution under which Adam in innocency was placed?
31. Was Adam under the same necessity of falling that we are of sinning?
32. Are all intelligences bound to love God supremely, sinners and devils?
33. Is the law holy, just, and good, and how is it proved?
34. Are they, who are under its curse, bound to delight in it?
35. How great is the demerit of sin?
36. Are the torments of hell eternal?
37. How do you reconcile them with the justice and infinite goodness of
God?
38. How do you reconcile them with those texts which say Christ died for
all men, that God will not that any should perish?
39. How does it appear that human nature is originally depraved?
40. Whence comes that depravity?
41. How is it proved to be total?
42. What is the covenant of grace?
43. Are the law and gospel inconsistent with each other?
44. Why was an atonement, and one so precious as the blood of Christ,
necessary?
45. In what manner did Christ atone for sin?
46. To whom doth it belong to provide an atonement, God, or the sinner?
47. Did Christ redeem all men alike, elect and non-elect?
48. Can the offer of the gospel be made in sincerity to the non-elect?
49. How is redemption applied?
50. What is the office of the Holy Ghost in the work of redemption?
51. What is regeneration?
52. Whence arises the necessity of it?
53. What is true love to God?
54. What is true benevolence to men?
55. What is true repentance, and how distinguished from legal?
56. What is true faith?
57. What is pardon and justification? What is their foundation, and what is
the influence of faith therein?
58. How are full satisfaction and free pardon consistent?
59. Is the sinner forgiven before he repents?
60. Is sanctifying grace needful at all to any man, unless with respect to
that which is his duty, and in neglect of which he would be without
excuse?
61. What is the sum of man’s duty, and what the effect produced by the
sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit?
62. Can that holy volition in us, which is the effect of divine power, be
wholly our act, or our duty?
63. How is it proved that unbelief is sin, and that all errors in moral matters
are of a criminal nature?
64. Will the wicked heathens, Jews, infidels, and errorists of every kind, be
without excuse at the day of judgment?
65. What is the essence of true virtue, or holiness?
66. Is there no virtue in the exercise of natural conscience, the moral sense,
natural compassion, and generosity?
67. Is not self-love the root of all virtue?
68. Do not the unregenerate desire to be regenerated, and can they not
properly pray for regenerating grace?
69. Do they not desire the heavenly happiness?
70. What is the utmost the unregenerate do in the use of the means of
grace?
71. Is any duly done by them therein?
72. Do they grow better in the use of means?
73. To what are they to be exhorted?
74. What is the real advantage of the assiduous use of means to the
unregenerate?
75. How do you prove that the institution of the Sabbath is of perpetual
obligation?
76. How is it that the Sabbath is changed from the seventh to the first day
of the week?
77. How do you prove that public worship is to be celebrated on the
Sabbath?
78. What is the foundation of the duty of prayer, since God is omniscient
and immutable?
79. How do you prove that family prayer is a duty?
80. To whom are the promises of the gospel made, to the regenerate, or
unregenerate?
81. Are no encouragements given to the unregenerate?
82. How do you prove the saints’ perseverance?
83. What is the nature of a Christian church?
84. Who are fit for communion therein?
85. What is the nature and import of baptism?
86. How do you prove infant baptism?
87. What is the nature of the Lord’s supper?
88. What are the rules and end of church discipline?
89. What is the character of a good minister of Christ?
90. In what does the happiness of heaven consist?
—Jonathan Edwards.
2. How does it appear that this earth and the visible system are not from
eternity?
3. How does it appear that the existence of man is derived and dependent?
4. How do you prove the natural perfections of God, viz. his intelligence,
infinite power, foreknowledge, and immutability?
5. How do you prove his moral perfections, that he is a friend of virtue, or
absolutely holy, true, just, and good?
6. How do you prove that the Scriptures are a revelation from God? And
what are the evidences, internal and external?
7. How do you prove the divine mission of Christ?
8. How do you prove the divinity of Christ?
9. How do you prove the personality and divinity of the Holy Ghost?
10. How do you prove that the persons in the Trinity are one God?
11. Whence arose the Manichean notion of two Gods, and how is it
confuted?
12. Whence arose the polytheism of the pagans, and how confuted?
13. Whence was it that the knowledge of the one true God, in which Noah
was instructed, was not preserved among his posterity in all ages?
14. Why are not mankind in all ages (their internal faculties and external
advantages being sufficient) united in right sentiments of the one true
God?
15. Were the moral character of God and the moral law understood and
loved, would there be any objections against revealed religion?
16. What is the true idea of God’s decrees?
17. How do you prove absolute and particular election?
18. Did God decree the existence of sin?
19. Why did God decree sin?
20. In what sense did he introduce sin into the universe?
21. How do you reconcile this with the holiness and goodness of God?
22. What is necessary to constitute a moral agent?
23. Are men moral and free agents?
24. What is the difference between natural and moral power and inability?
25. How is absolute moral necessity, or inability, consistent with the free
agency of men?
26. How is the doctrine of universal, absolute decrees, consistent with the
free agency of men?
27. How do you prove an universal and special providence?
28. What is the covenant of redemption?
29. If man was created in original righteousness, how is that consistent
with moral agency? It being said that a necessary holiness is no
holiness.
30. What was the constitution under which Adam in innocency was placed?
31. Was Adam under the same necessity of falling that we are of sinning?
32. Are all intelligences bound to love God supremely, sinners and devils?
33. Is the law holy, just, and good, and how is it proved?
34. Are they, who are under its curse, bound to delight in it?
35. How great is the demerit of sin?
36. Are the torments of hell eternal?
37. How do you reconcile them with the justice and infinite goodness of
God?
38. How do you reconcile them with those texts which say Christ died for
all men, that God will not that any should perish?
39. How does it appear that human nature is originally depraved?
40. Whence comes that depravity?
41. How is it proved to be total?
42. What is the covenant of grace?
43. Are the law and gospel inconsistent with each other?
44. Why was an atonement, and one so precious as the blood of Christ,
necessary?
45. In what manner did Christ atone for sin?
46. To whom doth it belong to provide an atonement, God, or the sinner?
47. Did Christ redeem all men alike, elect and non-elect?
48. Can the offer of the gospel be made in sincerity to the non-elect?
49. How is redemption applied?
50. What is the office of the Holy Ghost in the work of redemption?
51. What is regeneration?
52. Whence arises the necessity of it?
53. What is true love to God?
54. What is true benevolence to men?
55. What is true repentance, and how distinguished from legal?
56. What is true faith?
57. What is pardon and justification? What is their foundation, and what is
the influence of faith therein?
58. How are full satisfaction and free pardon consistent?
59. Is the sinner forgiven before he repents?
60. Is sanctifying grace needful at all to any man, unless with respect to
that which is his duty, and in neglect of which he would be without
excuse?
61. What is the sum of man’s duty, and what the effect produced by the
sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit?
62. Can that holy volition in us, which is the effect of divine power, be
wholly our act, or our duty?
63. How is it proved that unbelief is sin, and that all errors in moral matters
are of a criminal nature?
64. Will the wicked heathens, Jews, infidels, and errorists of every kind, be
without excuse at the day of judgment?
65. What is the essence of true virtue, or holiness?
66. Is there no virtue in the exercise of natural conscience, the moral sense,
natural compassion, and generosity?
67. Is not self-love the root of all virtue?
68. Do not the unregenerate desire to be regenerated, and can they not
properly pray for regenerating grace?
69. Do they not desire the heavenly happiness?
70. What is the utmost the unregenerate do in the use of the means of
grace?
71. Is any duly done by them therein?
72. Do they grow better in the use of means?
73. To what are they to be exhorted?
74. What is the real advantage of the assiduous use of means to the
unregenerate?
75. How do you prove that the institution of the Sabbath is of perpetual
obligation?
76. How is it that the Sabbath is changed from the seventh to the first day
of the week?
77. How do you prove that public worship is to be celebrated on the
Sabbath?
78. What is the foundation of the duty of prayer, since God is omniscient
and immutable?
79. How do you prove that family prayer is a duty?
80. To whom are the promises of the gospel made, to the regenerate, or
unregenerate?
81. Are no encouragements given to the unregenerate?
82. How do you prove the saints’ perseverance?
83. What is the nature of a Christian church?
84. Who are fit for communion therein?
85. What is the nature and import of baptism?
86. How do you prove infant baptism?
87. What is the nature of the Lord’s supper?
88. What are the rules and end of church discipline?
89. What is the character of a good minister of Christ?
90. In what does the happiness of heaven consist?
—Jonathan Edwards.
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