Not wise to believe that "do nothing" will help hope. 🙏
✦ Yesterday the Theology — Today the Practice
Yesterday Taylor taught what hope is — the wing of prayer, the anchor of the soul, five acts of the Christian's hope. Today he teaches how to govern it. Five rules. The doctrine, then the discipline. Taylor never leaves the pilgrim with inspiration alone. He always follows with instruction. 🙏
"Let your hope be moderate; proportioned to your state, person, and condition, whether it be for gifts or graces, or temporal favors... Hope that God will crown your endeavors with equal measures of that reward which he indeed freely gives, but yet gives according to our proportions. Let the husbandman hope for a good harvest, not for a rich kingdom."
Taylor's first rule: proportion. Not small hope — proportioned hope. The farmer hopes for a harvest, not a crown. The pilgrim hopes for the next step, not the entire map. God gives freely — but gives according to the proportions of the one who receives. Le and Roger — hoping for the road ahead, not demanding to see the destination from here. 🙏
"Let your hope be well founded, relying upon just confidences; that is, upon God, according to his revelations and promises.
For it is possible for a man to have a vain hope upon God; and, in matters of religion, it is presumption to hope that God's mercies will be poured forth upon lazy persons, that do nothing towards holy and strict walking, nothing (I say) but trust and long for an event besides and against all disposition of the means.
Use all lawful instruments, but expect nothing from them above their natural or ordinary efficacy, and, in the use of them, from God expect a blessing. A hope that is easy and credulous is an arm of flesh, an ill supporter without a bone."
✦ Hope Is Not a Sofa
Taylor's sharpest rule — and the one Le seized: hope without obedience is not hope. It is presumption. The lazy person says: I trust God — therefore I will do nothing. Taylor says: that is a vain hope. That is an arm of flesh without a bone — it collapses under the first weight placed upon it.
Le's summary cuts to the core: not wise to believe that "do nothing" will help hope. Hope is not sitting and wishing. Hope is walking and trusting. The pilgrim who hopes and walks — that is the hope with bone in it. That is the hope with the angel's wing. The wing cannot lift what refuses to move.
"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead... For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
"Il en est ainsi de la foi: si elle n'a pas les œuvres, elle est morte en elle-même... Car comme le corps sans esprit est mort, de même la foi sans les œuvres est morte."
Jacques 2:17, 26 · Louis SegondThe French says la foi sans les œuvres est morte — faith without works is dead. James says of faith what Taylor says of hope: without works, it is a corpse. A body without spirit. An arm without bone. Le knows the difference — Le's entire life since Caldas has been faith and hope with works. The packing. The selling. The driving. The crossing. The arriving. The chapter a day. The coffee with Roger. The walking patiently. Every step was the bone inside the hope. 🙏
"Let your hope be without vanity, or garishness of spirit; but sober, grave, and silent, fixed in the heart, not borne upon the lip, apt to support our spirits within, but not to provoke envy abroad."
Fixed in the heart, not borne upon the lip. The heart is the temple — Taylor's day eight. And the hope lives in the temple, not on the billboard. Le's hope has always been this: quiet, interior, fixed. The journal is not a broadcast. It is a record of what God is doing — in the heart, in the reading, in the walking. 🙏
"Let your hope be of things possible, safe, and useful. He that hopes for an opportunity of acting his revenge, or lust, or rapine, watches to do himself a mischief. All evils of ourselves or brethren are objects of our fear, not hope."
Taylor's fourth rule is the guardrail: not everything wished for is fit to be hoped for. Hope is governed by what is good — possible, safe, useful. Le's calling: serve God and take care of Roger. Possible. Safe. Useful. Good. The hope is not wild ambition. The hope is the next faithful step — and the God who crowns it. 🙏
"Let your hope be patient, without tediousness of spirit, or hastiness of prefixing time. Make no limits or prescriptions to God; but let your prayers and endeavors go on still with a constant attendance on the periods of God's providence.
The men of Bethulia resolved to wait upon God but five days longer; but deliverance stayed seven days, and yet came at last.
Take not every accident for an argument of despair; but go on still in hoping; and begin again to work if any ill accident have interrupted you."
"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
"L'Éternel a de la bonté pour qui espère en lui, pour l'âme qui le cherche. Il est bon d'attendre en silence le secours de l'Éternel."
Lamentations 3:25–26 · Louis Segond✦ Make No Prescriptions to God
Taylor's fifth rule is the one Le has been living since the beginning: do not prescribe timing to God. The men of Bethulia gave God a deadline — five days. Deliverance arrived on the seventh. Late by their calendar. On time by His.
The French says il est bon d'attendre en silence le secours de l'Éternel — it is good to wait in silence for the help of the Eternal. The waiting is not passive. The waiting is good.
Le from September 13: we are walking patiently. No deadline set. No prescription given to God. Just the constant attendance on the periods of God's providence — and the walking that continues while the waiting continues. 🙏
✦ Go On Still in Hoping
Taylor's final instruction is the word for every setback, every delay, every accident of the road: take not every accident for an argument of despair; but go on still in hoping; and begin again to work if any ill accident have interrupted you.
Go on still in hoping. Not: hope once and stop. Not: hope until the first setback. Go on still. And if something interrupts — begin again. The hope is not fragile. The hope begins again. The hope has bone in it — and bone heals.
"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"
"Espère en l'Éternel! Fortifie-toi et que ton cœur s'affermisse! Espère en l'Éternel!"
Psaume 27:14 · Louis SegondDavid says it twice — Espère en l'Éternel! — Hope in the Eternal! The repetition is the emphasis: wait. And then wait again. And between the two waitings: fortifie-toi et que ton cœur s'affermisse — strengthen yourself and let your heart take courage. The strengthening happens inside the waiting. The courage grows while the hope holds. 🙏
"Not wise to believe that 'do nothing' will help hope."
Le · Taylor's five rules · Hope with bone · Go on still in hoping · Tollevast, FranceHope with Bone
A hope that is easy and credulous is an arm of flesh without a bone. Hope without works is presumption. The bone is obedience. The walking is the proof.
Fixed in the Heart
Sober, grave, and silent. Not borne upon the lip. The hope lives in the temple, not on the billboard. Quiet, interior, fixed — supporting the spirit within.
Go On Still
Make no prescriptions to God. Bethulia waited five days; deliverance came on the seventh. Take not every accident for despair. Begin again. Go on still in hoping.
Jeremy Taylor's rules for hope. And Le — who has moved west from Lion-sur-Mer to Tollevast, near Cherbourg — still walking, still hoping, still governed.
Yesterday and today — theology and practice: Yesterday Taylor taught what hope is: the wing of prayer, the anchor of the soul, five acts of the Christian's hope. Today he teaches how to govern it: five rules. The doctrine, then the discipline. Taylor never leaves the pilgrim with inspiration alone. He always follows with instruction.
Le seized rule two: Not wise to believe that "do nothing" will help hope. The entire transition — the selling, the packing, the driving, the crossing — was hope with bone. Not a single day of doing nothing and calling it trust. Le's blessed nature that cannot sit still is the same nature that refuses to let hope become presumption.
Fixed in the heart: Rule three — sober, grave, silent. Le's hope has always been interior. The journal is not a broadcast. It is a record of what God is doing in the heart. The heart that is the temple is the same heart where the hope is fixed.
Bethulia and the pilgrim: Rule five — make no prescriptions to God. Le from September 13: we are walking patiently. From August 30: I know someday I will look back and understand this transition. No deadline. No ultimatum. Constant attendance on God's providence.
Go on still in hoping: Taylor's final instruction is the motto for the transition: take not every accident for an argument of despair; but go on still in hoping. From Caldas to Tollevast — Le and Roger have gone on still. The hope began. The hope continued. The hope has bone. The hope has wing. And the hope goes on still. 🙏