PROVERBS III. 5, 6 219
No one on earth can distinguish them for me ; but He will. It so often seems to me as if two different courses of action were right or might be right ; and this is what puzzles me, even though it is a blessing as bindiug me to people of widely different opinions.^
^ On reflection I felt that I was going to make a grand fiasco in Berlin, and compromise a career which, tolerably brilliant at the outset, had already brought on me much resentment, as well as calumnies and attacks of which I have not ceased to be proud. The idea was unbearable, and I felt that, in the interest of The Times, as well as in my own interests, it would be better for me not to go to the Congress. . . . Just then my young friend was announced. I had not seen him for a long time, and had positively allowed him to slip my memory. Here I must confess that I have a theory which will, perhaps, be ridiculed, but which has governed my whole life. I believe in the constant intervention of a Supreme Power, directing not only our destiny in general, but such actions of ours as influence our destiny. When I see that nothing in Nature is left to chance, that immutable laws govern every move- ment, that the faintest spark that glimmers in the firmament disappears and reappears with strict punctuality, I cannot suppose that anything to do with mankind goes by chance, and that every individuality composing it is not governed by a definite and in- flexible plan. The great men whose names escape oblivion are like the planets which we know by name, and which stand out from among the multitude of stars without names. We know their motions and destinies. We know at what time the comet moving in infinite space will reappear, and that the smallest stars, whose existence escapes us, obey the fixed law which governs the universe. . . . Everything moves by a fixed law, and man is master of his own destiny only because he can accept or refuse, by his own intervention and action, the place he should fill and the path traced out for him by the general decree which regulates the movements of every creature. By virtue of this theory it will be easily understood that I have always endeavoured to diviue the intentions and designs of the Supreme Will which directs us. I have always sought not to thwart that ubiquitous guidance, but to enter on the path which it seemed to point out to me. As, at the very time that the idea of going to Berlin plunged me in despair, my door opened and I saw my young friend enter, it struck me that he was destined to assist me in the accomplishment of the task devolving on me in Berlin. ... At the very hour on the 13th of July when the treaty of 1878 was signed in Berlin, a
^ Life of Octavia Hill, 155.
220 TRUST IN THE LORD
London telegram announced that The Times had published the preamble and sixty-four articles, with an English translation appended.^
III. A Promise.
"He shall direct thy paths."
1. This is not a mere arbitrary promise. If we trust God with all our heart, and acknowledge Him in all our ways, we have within us the guarantee of sure guidance. God has placed man's happiness in his own keeping; and by true submission to the Divine will man is able to " lay hold on eternal life." The Kingdom of God is within. It comes not with observation. Its rewards are the continued extension of the soul's capacities ; its treasures are incorruptible, laid up beyond the power of rust or robber. Surrendering ourselves, not to a blind destiny, but to the guidance of holy and eternal principles, we are unconcerned about the future. Precisely what that future may bring forth we know not; but the unknown is to us neither mysterious nor terrible. Our delight being in the Lord, that is, in the integrity and holiness of His will, we know that He will give us the desires of our heart. Waiting patiently for Him, and committing our ways unto Him, we know that He "shall bring it to pass." Clouds and darkness may befall us, but we know that He, the eternal Sun, is above the clouds, and will, sooner or later, shine upon us.
O end to which our currents tend,
Inevitable sea, To which we flow, what do we know,
What can we guess of thee ?
A roar we hear upon thy shore,
As we our course fulfil ; And we divine a sun will shine,
And be above us still.
^ Mr. Gladstone's speech on the second reading of the Eeform Bill of 18GG, as a whole, ranks among the greatest of his per-
1 n. S. De Blowitz, Mij Memoirs, 132.
PROVERBS III. 5, 6 221
formances. The party danger, the political theme, the new responsibility of command, the joy of battle, all seemed to trans- figure the orator before the vision of the House, as if he were the Greek hero sent forth to combat by Pallas Athene, with flame streaming from head and shoulders, from helmet and shield, like the star of summer rising effulgent from the sea. The closing sentences became memorable : — " You cannot fight against the future," he exclaimed with a thrilling gesture, " time is on our side. The great social forces which move onwards in their might and majesty, and which the tumult of our debates does not for a moment impede or disturb — those great social forces are against you ; they are marshalled on our side ; and the banner which we now carry in this fight, though perhaps at some moment it may droop over our sinking heads, yet it soon again will float in the eye of Heaven, and it will be borne by the firm hands of the united people of the three kingdoms, perhaps not to an easy, but to a certain and to a not far distant victory." ^