February 5

He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead, — Lam. iii. 6.

Every man is a mystery to himself as to his fellows. With
rebruary 6.

reverence, we may say of each other as we say of God —

“Clouds and darkness are round about Him.” After all the manifestations

of a life, we remain enigmas to one another, mysteries to ourselves; for

every man is no fixed somewhat, but a growing personality, with dormant

possibilities of good and evil lying in him, which up to the very last

moment of life may flame up in altogether unexpected and astonishing

developments, so as that we have all to feel that after all self-examination

there lie awful possibilities within us which we have not fathomed; and

after all our knowledge of one another we yet do see but the surface, and

each soul dwells alone.

There is in every heart a dark chamber. There are very, very few of us that dare tell all our thoughts and show our inmost selves to the dearest ones. The most silvery lake that lies sleeping amidst beauty, itself the very fairest spot of all, when drained off shows ugly ooze and filthy mud, and all manner of creeping abominations in the sUme. I wonder what we should see if our hearts were, so to speak, drained off, and the very bottom layer of everything brought into the light? Do you think you would like it? Do you think you could stand it?

Well, then, go to God and ask Him to keep you from the unconscious sins. Go to Him and ask Him to root out of you the mischiefs that you do not know are there, and live humbly and self-distrustfully, and feel that your only strength is: “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” “Hast thou seen what they do in the dark? *’

Trust Christ! and so thy soul shall no longer be like “the sea that cannot rest,” full of turbulent wishes, full of passionate desires that come to nothing, full of endless moanings, like the homeless ocean that is ever working and never flings up any product of its work but yeasty foam and broken weeds, — but thine heart shall become translucent and still, like some land-locked lake, where no winds rave nor tempests rufile; and on its calm surface there shall be mirrored the clear shining of the unclouded blue, and the perpetual light of the sun that never goes down.