^ A friend once saw Michael Angelo at work on one of his statues. Some time afterwards he saw him again, and said, seeing so little done, " Have you been idle since I saw you last?"
" By no means," replied the sculptor. " I have retouched this part and polished that ; I have softened this feature and brought out that muscle ; I have given more expression to this lip, and more energy to this limb."
" Well, well," said the friend, " all these are trifles."
" It may be so," replied Angelo ; " but recollect that trifles make perfection, and that perfection is no trifle." ^
^ If the impression to be conveyed by his picture was of greater importance than usual, every line, and the character of every line, of the various parts was pondered over, sometimes during many years. On his return home, when the second version of the " Love and Death " upon a large scale was first brought out and put upon his easel, he saw that, owing to some subtle changes in line and tone, the figure of Death had neither the weight nor the slow movement he desired to give it. So day after day he thought and toiled, and I saw each fold of the garment deliberately reconsidered, a hair's-breadth of line or a breath of colour making the difference that a pause or an accentuated word would make in speaking. For instance, by raising the hand and outstretched arm a less judicial and severe impression was conveyed, and by
' F. B. Cowl, Digging Ditches, 59.
314 FAITHFULNESS IN LITTLE THINGS
this slight alteration the action changed from " I shall " to the more tender " I am compelled." ^
III.
The Eeward.
1. Fidelity in small things prepares for and opens the way to a wider sphere of service. Every power strengthens by exercise. Everything that I do I can do better next time because of the previous effort. Every temptation resisted weakens the force of all other temptations of every sort. Every time that a Christian acts for the sake of Christ, that motive is made stronger in his soul. Every time that a rebellious and seducing voice, speaking in his spirit, is withstood, his ear becomes more attuned to catch the lowest whisper of his Master's com- mandments, and his heart becomes more joyful and ready to obey. Every act of obedience smoothes the road for all that shall come after. To get the habit of being faithful so wrought into our life that it becomes part of our second and truer self — that is a defence all but impregnable for us, when the stress of the great trials comes, or when God calls us to lofty and hard duties.
Ah! not as citizens of this our sphere,
But aliens militant we sojourn here. Invested by the hosts of Evil and of Wrong, Till Thou shalt come again with all Thine angel throng.
As Thou hast found me ready to Thy call, Which stationed me to watch the outer wall. And, quitting joys and hopes that once were mine. To pace with patient steps this narrow line. Oh ! may it be that, coming soon or late, Thou still shalt find Thy soldier at the gate, Who then may follow Thee till sight needs not to prove, And faith will be dissolved in knowledge of Thy love.^
If Eew, if any, can suddenly rise to great things who have not been first well trained by little things. The lofty summits of
^ M. S. Watts, George Frederic Watts, ii. 86. ' G. J. Romanes, in Life and Letters, 344.
ST. LUKE XVI. lo 315
great mountains are only reached by passing first the little paths which lie below. So lofty standards of faithfulness in great things are only reached by previous training in the little things of lowly duties. The servant who is faithful with your pence may be safely trusted with your pounds. The friend who is faithful in the little matters of friendship will probably not be found un- faithful to you when emergencies shall arise which shall make great demands upon the faithfulness of his friendship. Your servant and your friend have been trained for great things by their faithfulness in little things. The biographer of the late Bishop of Manchester tells us how Fraser's work in his little parish of two or three hundred people gradually trained him for the great work of one of the most important dioceses in England. He had shown himself faithful in the least things of his little parish ; he was found faithful in the great things of his great diocese.^
^ To a man on the eve of Ordination the Bishop wrote : " ' Be faithful over a few things.' The glory and bliss of this faith- fulness are so great that I dare not set them down, lest I should seem to lay claim to them." ^
^ There is a beautiful Kabbinical story, that, when Moses was tending Jethro's flock in Midian, a kid went astray. He sought it and found it drinking at a spring. " Thou art weary," he said, and lifted it on his shoulders and carried it home. And God said to him : " Since thou hast had pity for a man's beast, thou shalt be shepherd of Israel, My flock." ^