Wednesday, August 21, 2013

A Premonition of the Higher Life

There is a something which lays hold of us; there is a power working in the world which draws us out beyond ourselves; which is in us, but not of us; there is that in our midst to which we stand in the relation of pure passivity. We feel it in the voice of conscience, the imperious behest of duty. No man says 'must' to himself. 'Thou shalt' is greater than 'I will.' Here, already, is a premonition of the higher life, that tells us we are born of the Spirit.' Again, we feel the workings of the Spirit in the spectacle of human virtue, and the sight of a goodness and a greatness that is other than our own. It is not we that affect admiration, it is admiration that affects us. There is an involuntary outgoing of the soul towards all that is heroic in history and noble in our own generation. We do not will these emotions; they come upon us of themselves, like the rushing of a mighty wind, with the fire of an unbidden glow.

— Edmund Martin Geldart (1844-1885)

The old Croydon Unitarian and Free Christian Church,
erected during the ministry of Edmund M. Geldart.