though in the single life many a man seems to halt at a certain point,
to have tied up his little packet of admirations once and for all, there
are other lives where he will pass on to further loves, his passion
growing more intense and pure. We are not limited by our circle, by our
generation, by our age; and the things which youthful spirits are
divining and proclaiming as great and wonderful discoveries, are often
being practised and done by silent and humble souls. It is not the
concise or impressive statement of a truth that matters, it is the
intensity of the inner impulse towards what is high and true which
differentiates. The more we live by that, the less are we inclined to
argue and dispute about it. The base, the impure desire is only the
imperfect desire; if it is gratified, it reveals its imperfections, and
the soul knows that not there can it stay; but it must have faced and
tested everything. If the soul, out of timidity and conventionality,
says 'No' to its eager impulses, it halts upon its pilgrimage. Some of
the most grievous and shameful lives on earth have been fruitful enough
in reality. The reason why we mourn and despond over them is, again,
that we limit our hope to the single life. There is time for everything;
we must not be impatient. We must despair of nothing and of no one; the
true life consists not in what a man's reason approves or disapproves,
not in what he does or says, but in what he sees. It is useless to
explain things to souls; they must experience them to apprehend them.
The one treachery is to speak of mistakes as irreparable, and of sins as
unforgivable. The sin against the Spirit is to doubt the Spirit, and the
sin against life is not to use it generously and freely; we are happiest
if we love others well enough to give our life to them; but it is better
to use life for ourselves than not to use it at all."