Solitude
il.
Solitude
VII Solitude To be blind is inevitably to be cut off in some degree from the world and from others. George
Matheson experienced periods of intense loneliness which must have been intensified by the fact that he never married. His meditation
''Ties for the Solitary'' has a special poignancy in its call on God to ''make straight not in the desert, but on the highway, a path for those who walk alone''. It also seems almost to suggest that solitude is almost a vocation, a state like celibacy which makes it easier to surrender to God and to feel deeply for the whole of suffering humanity.
_A rather different value in being alone is explored in the poem, '"The Revealing Solitude'.
Here Matheson the mystic and spiritual pilgrim is to the fore, seeking to climb the lonely heights which were scaled by the spiritual giants of the past.
Ties for the Solitary "God setteth the solitary in families.'' Psalm 68:6
There are some lives to whom the nuptial torch is denied. They form no family ties, and, as the ties into which they were born are dissolved, one fears that they will be alone. They need not be.
''God setteth the solitary in families.'' Religion supplies the place of marriage. Often have I thought of these words of the Master, ''Whosoever shall do the will of My Father,
which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.'' The soul surrendered to God is brother, sister, mother, to the race of Man.
Who, think you, of merely human birth, had the widest heart for earthly ties? Was it not the solitary man of Tarsus? Who speaks of the family like him? Who legislates for the household like him? Who feels for the bereaved like him? And why? Because they who are united to Christ are wedded also to humanity. They have the ring and the robe. They have the bridal garment.
They have the marriage supper of the Lamb.
They have the cares of all households, the weight of all children, the guidance of all youth, the help of all manhood, the support of all age.
It is a crowded life to be married like the angels.
Oh Thou who hast consecrated not only the nuptial torch but the want of it, make room for the solitary lives. Make straight not in the desert,
but on the highway, a path for those who walk alone. Invite the virgin souls of earth to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Kindle the paternal instinct in the heart that is no father.
Light the family altar in the home that has no ties. Fill with the voices of the multitude the spaces left vacant by the brethren. Replenish the isles with Thy fulness — the fulness of human sympathy. Give a crowded interest to spirits outside the crowd. Bring the vision of the city into the silence of the garden. Put the burden of all souls on the life that has no burden. Lay the debt of humanity on those who know not lesser bonds. The isles wait for Thee to make them vocal. When Thou hast set the solitary in families there shall be no more seas.
Searchings in the Silence
The Revealing Solitude "When they were alone, He expounded all things to his disciples'' Mark 4:34
There is a solitude whose waste Is empty not to me, For there upon the heart are traced The sights no eye can see, And in the seeming void I stand In contact with Immanuel's land.
2 I would not change that solitude For gleaming pearls of gold, For 'tis the holy ground where stood The Master's feet of old; 'Twas from the reach of upper air He bore the weight of human care.
3 'Tis not the dwellers on the plain That feel their comrades' load; "Tis only from the mountain-chain We mark the winding road; The mystic heights alone receive The common clouds of those that grieve.
4 I would not be alone with God To be the less with man; I would not rest in His abode To shun the race I ran:
I only crave an hour above That I may deeper sink, through love.
5 I long to scale the lonely height Where Moses' footprints lie,
For all my meekness in the fight Is borrowed from on high; And only in that higher birth I bear the storm and stress of earth.
6 I long to scale the lonely height Where Abram's faith was sealed, For only in the depth of night Is perfect love revealed; And in the steps of sacrifice I find the earth-path to the skies.
7 I long to scale the lonely height Where Jesus climbed His cross, For only is life's glory bright When gain is found in loss; And earth unites with heaven above When death becomes undying love.
Sacred Songs
VII The Passing Years