As there is a silence that thunders, so there is a severity that is the inflection of pity and love. That is not the kindest surgeon who refuses to make the wounded soldier suffer. That is not the truest mother who lets the child work its own will and riot in selfish pleasures. It is not a little thing for a pilgrim to make his way across a dark continent. Are there serpents and wild beasts in the jungle? Then on either side of the path through the forest let thorn-bushes be planted that they may scourge the child back into the path. Is the chasm deep? A veritable abyss? Then, when the bridge is strung across the gulf, let a railing be placed on either side, with sharp prongs of iron to hold the child back from the edge of the bridge, lest in a careless mood he fall and be crusht upon the cruel rocks beneath. It is a dangerous journey that man makes through the wilderness. And God has planted on either side of the way the Ten Commandments like ten thorn-bushes, buttresses and guards, that the pilgrim may be confined to the path that leads to prosperity, safety and peace—N. D. Hillis.
(1323)
Guest Surprized—See Tact.
Guidance—See Safety from Water
Brooks; Trust.
GUIDANCE, GOD'S
In the stern of a sea-going vessel,
At morning, at noon and at night,
I saw there a sturdy old boatswain
Who stood and uplifted his sight
To the mast that was towering above him,
While pendulant hung from his lip
The whistle whose shrill intonations
Determined the course of the ship.
And I wondered at what he was gazing
Till, stepping behind him, I stood
And followed his angle of vision
High up on the pillar of wood;
And there, far above the attraction
Of body of iron or steel,
Was fastened a compass whose needle
Corrected the man at the wheel.
O wonderful lesson of science,
That crystaled in parable there,
And brought in its transparent vision
The meaning and purpose of prayer!
I, too, am adrift on the ocean,
My compass, the spirit of man,
And with hand on the wheel of life's rudder,
I only can steer as I can.
But, praise to God's infinite goodness,
Thy compass above I can see—
The needle of truth that Thy spirit
Holds true for the spirit of me.
Unswerved by earth's baser attraction,
It points to the glories that shine;
I read it at morning and evening,
And reckon my bearings from Thine. (Text.)
(1324)
Thomas F. Porter, in the Boston Globe, expresses in these verses the confidence of faith in God's guidance:
It matters not what course my ship may go,
That leaves the port 'neath skies so calm and clear;
Tho later threatening winds may wildly blow,
Of harm I have no fear.
The storm may beat in fury 'round my bark,
The ocean's spray up to the masthead leap,
The way be long, the night be starless dark,
Secure my course I keep.
It matters not how swift may be the tide,
Tho lightning cleave with lurid flame the sky;
But that my ship will every storm outride,
On this I can rely.
Nor does it matter when the goal I gain,
Nor if the ship be stript of every mast,
My heart no lips will murmur nor complain,
When safe the anchor's cast.
Why, there is such a flood of hope in me,
To doubting hearts this much I will reveal:
The Hand that launched my bark on life's great sea
Is ever at the wheel.
(1325)
Guidance, Spiritual—See Spirit, Winds of the.
GUIDANCE EVILWARD
A story is told of certain mariners who
followed the direction of their compass, believing
it to be infallibly right as a guide,
till they arrived at an enemy's port, where
they were seized and made slaves. The
secret was that the wicked captain, in order
to betray the ship and to beguile them into
obliquities, had hidden a large loadstone at a
little distance on one side of the needle.
(Text.)
(1326)
