Read "A Book of Strife in the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul" by George MacDonald online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
1. WE are a shadow and a shining, we! One moment nothing seems but what we see, Nor aught to rule but common circumstance -- Nought is to seek but praise, to shun but chance; A moment more, and God is all in all, And not a sparrow from its nest can fall But from the ground its chirp goes up into his hall.
2. I know at least which is the better mood. When on a heap of cares I sit and brood, Like Job upon his ashes, sorely vext, I feel a lower thing than when I stood The world's true heir, fearless as, on its stalk, A lily meeting Jesus in his walk: I am not all mood -- I can judge betwixt.