Florence Nightingale’s Spiritual Journey: Biblical Annotations, Sermons and Journal Notes: Collected Works of Florence Nightingale, Volume 2

Old Testament

Old Testament Source: Holy Bible. Appointed to be read in churches. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1843. Florence Nightingale Museum N ightingale was apparently given this Bible by her sister. A very faint inscription on the first page, discernible only with a magnifying glass, says: ‘‘P.N. to F.N. with all her best love. F. Nightingale.’’ [on the frontispiece] FN: [trans. from French] Man was created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord and by this means to save his soul, and the other things on the face of the earth were created for man’s sake, and in order to aid him in the prosecution of the end for which he was created . Whence it follows that man must make use of them insofar as they help him to attain his end, and in the same way he ought to withdraw himself from them insofar as they hinder him from it. It is therefore necessary that we should make ourselves indifferent to all created things, insofar as it is left to the liberty of our free will to do so, and is not forbidden; so that we do not for our part wish for health rather than sickness, for wealth rather than poverty, for honour rather than dishonour, for a long life rather than a short one; but it is according to right reason that in all other things we desire and choose only those things which most lead us to the end for which we were created.1 Rome 7 March 1848. ED: The above passage was transcribed in French from an unidenti- fied source (the original was in Spanish, which language Nightingale did not read). From the date it is evident that Nightingale read the Ignatian Exercises, or at least this ‘‘First Principle and Foundation,’’ which precedes the exercises proper, while on her ten-day retreat in 1 Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius 12. 100 / Rome with the ‘‘madre’’ Laure de Ste Colombe at the Sacré-Coeur Convent. The point on being indifferent to health or sickness, riches or poverty, a long or a short life of course is one with which she would later strongly disagree, and criticize, in the medieval mystics. FN: April 1844 Isaiah 58;2 Micah 6:8;3 Malachi 2; Habakkuk 3;4 Job 4; Solomon’s prayer. Epistle Dedicatory FN: The wonderful translation of the Bible familiarized the ear to, and coloured the language with, the expressions of the East. The Reformation was our Psistratus;5 the translation of the Bible was our Homer. And new inspiration and a new audience were produced for the most popular book in England was the most glorious poetry in the world. The sacred volume, in a form at once popular yet sublime, was brought home to every man’s breast. FN: [trans. from German] Hebrew poetry—the most ancient history of the human spirit. ED: The above expression is a paraphrase of the title and subtitle of Herder’s second volume, ‘‘An introduction for the friends of that poetry and of the most ancient history of the human spirit.’’ 2 Isa 58:2 God’s people ‘‘seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness . . . .’’ 3 ‘‘ . . . What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’’ 4 This chapter has dire prophecies of pestilence, but in 3:13 ‘‘salvation with thine anointed.’’ 5 Psistratus (d. c527 bce), King of Athens, was known for his liberality, justice and reluctance to exact vengeance when he could have. He preserved the poems of Homer and, according to Cicero, established the order by which they are still known. Old Testament / 101 Genesis Genesis 1:1-2 /See John6/In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God/Elohim/ moved upon the face of the waters. FN: Primitive matter (υ ‘´λη πρώτη) of Greeks and Egyptians universal generating substance, of which sun the symbol. FN: Original Elohim (God) Plural of Eloah. When God at first made man, Having a glass of blessing standing by; Let us, said He, pour on Him all we can: Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie, Contract into a span. So strength first made a way: Then beauty...