found everything withering and dying. He asked an oak that stood
near the gate what the trouble was. He found that it was sick of
life and determined to die, because it was not tall and beautiful
like the pine. The pine was out of heart because it could not bear
grapes like the vine; the vine was going to throw its life away,
because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the
pomegranate; and so on throughout the garden. Coming to the
heart'sease, the king found its bright face uplifted, as full of
cheerfulness as ever. Said the king, "Well, heart'sease, I am glad
to find one brave little flower in this general discouragement and
dying. You don't seem one bit disheartened." "No, your majesty. I
know I am of small account; but I concluded you wanted a
heart'sease when you planted me. If you had wanted an oak, or a
pine, or a vine, or a pomegranate, you would have set one out. So I
am bound to be the best heart'sease that ever I can."_
WILLIAM MOODIE.
Like the wise King of old, I pray Thee, gracious Lord, give unto me
wisdom. May Thy Pillar of Light guide my footsteps so that I go not
astray in the wilderness of sin and selfish ambition. Help me to acquire
a pure heart and a contented spirit. Amidst all the vicissitudes of
fortune, let faith induce me to say, "Whatever God doeth is well." Amen.
M. M. EICHLER.
July 12
_What shall I do to be just?
What shall I do for the gain
Of the world--for its sadness?
Teach me, O seers that I trust!
Chart me the difficult main
Leading out of my sorrow and madness,
Preach me the purging of pain._
_Shall I wrench from my finger the ring
To cast to the tramp at my door?
Shall I tear off each luminous thing
To drop in the palm of the poor?
What shall I do to be just?
Teach me, O Ye in the light,
Whom the poor and the rich alike trust;
My heart is aflame to be right._
HAMLIN A. GARLAND.
Infinite Spirit, Thou seest us just as we are. In Thy sight there can be
no make-believe; we need not seek to offer Thee as a penance for our
sins some cheap alms to the poor, for Thy favor cannot be bought. We
pray simply that we may be just,--that we may be true. If we have
wronged anyone, help us to right the wrong. If we have been false to
ourselves or false to our neighbors, O Lord, make us true,--we seek no
easy admission to a far-off heaven, we seek Thy presence here and now,
today, by the only pathway open, the pathway of righteousness and truth.
That we may enter this pathway, grant us we pray Thee the illumination
of Thy Holy Spirit. Amen.
GEORGE L. PERIN.
July 13
_The law of worthy life is fundamentally the law of strife. It is
only through labor, painful effort, by grim energy and resolute
courage, that we move on to better things._
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
_If we would please God we must watch every stroke and touch upon
the canvas of our lives; we may not think we can lay it on with a
trowel and yet succeed. We ought to live as miniature painters
work, for they watch every line and tint._
SPURGEON.
As we begin this new day, O our Father, may such energy and vigor, such
strength and courage, such faith and hope be ours that the problems and
tasks awaiting us may be boldly and gladly met as challenges to our
powers. May that abundant life be in us which shall make our
difficulties a tonic, and the struggle to achieve high aims a joy. May
we be resourceful, equal to life, adequate to every situation, able to
stand this universe,--men who can. May we count it a privilege to live,
to have a vision of life's possibilities, and to have the fellowship of
so many good men and women by the way. Amen.
GEORGE R. DODSON.
July 14
_With place, with gold, with power--oh, ask me not
With these my little hour of life to blot.
A little hour indeed! and I would fain
Its moments spend in what is worth its pain.
What traveler would faint through troublous lands
To gather only what must leave his hands
The moment that he takes his homeward ship?
Earth's goods and gauds give every man the slip;
But wealth of thought and richer wealth of love,
Must pass for coin in any world above.
The good to others done while here I strive
Is all at last that shall my dying shrive;
And, setting sail, my slight self-conquest's store
Is all my freight if I shall come to shore._
ANONYMOUS.
O Father, God! The span of our influence is both near and far; may it
also be direct and strong. Thou hast planted mighty virtue and
unquenchable love in our hearts. Love knows the secret of imparting
virtue's value to all the wretchedness in life. So, we beseech Thee,
direct our hearts to altitudes of holiness and set our feet in the
highways of helpfulness. May the charm of gentleness be in every service
to-day, and may the tone of tenderness carry love's message over all
barriers to the hearts that need. Thus would we keep our confidence with
Thee and bind ourselves more profitably to our fellows. So shall Thy
great name be honored among men. Amen.
J. O. RANDALL.
July 15
_What seems to grow fairer to me as life goes by, is the love and
peace and tenderness of it. Not its wit and cleverness and grandeur
of knowledge, but just the laughter of little children, and the
friendship of friends, and the cosy talk of the fireside, and the
sight of flowers and the sound of music._
J. R. GREEN.
Now that Thou givest us the light of a new day, grant that it carry with
it the brightness of hope and courage for whatsoever the day may offer.
Always behind the clouds is the shining that never fails; always beyond
the labor which irks us is the joy of attainment. Open our eyes that we
may see the best which shall be in the day; its love of friends, its
sights of beauty, its music, its wisdom such as no day before could
possess, its voices of the Spirit awaiting the listening ear, its tears
of compassion and sympathy. Give us our daily bread such as shall feed
the heart and enrich the mind and grant us forgiveness when we are blind
to the common treasures of this Thy world. Amen.
GEORGE A. THAYER.
July 16
_Methought that in a solemn church I stood.
Its marble acres, worn with knees and feet,
Lay spread from door to door, from street to street.
Midway the form hung high upon the rood
Of Him who gave His life to be our good;
Beyond, priests flitted, bowed, and murmured meet
Among the candles shining still and sweet.
Men came and went, and worshipped as they could;
And still their dust a woman with her broom,
Bowed to her work, kept sweeping to the door.
Then saw I slow through all the pillared gloom
Across the church a silent figure come.
"Daughter," it said, "Thou sweepest well my floor!"
"It is the Lord!" I cried, and saw no more._
GEORGE MACDONALD.
Our Father, who art ever with us, help us this day so to reveal Thee
through our common tasks, our relations with one another, in our homes
and at our work, that men may know and love Thee better. This is Thy
most beautiful world. May we not mar its glory by our selfishness, but
by the gentleness and sweetness of our lives make it more beautiful. May
we this day not add to another's burden of care or pain. But may we by
our words and deeds sweeten and brighten and strengthen the lives of
those whom we meet. For Thy goodness and mercy to us, for the
opportunity of service, for love and sympathy, we thank Thee and pray
that our devotion to Thy truth may reveal the thankfulness of our
hearts. Amen.
ARTHUR L. WHEATHERLY.
July 17
_For I, a man, with men am linked,
And not a brute with brutes; no gain
That I experience must remain
Unshared; but should my best endeavor
To share it, fail--subsisteth ever
God's care above, and I exult
That God, by God's own ways occult,
May--doth, I will believe--bring back
All wanderers to a single track._
ROBERT BROWNING.
Father of all souls in all worlds, our best friend forever, in Thy good
keeping we cannot wander beyond Thy loving care. We thank Thee for life,
for the fair world we live in, enriched by Thy countless benefits, for
the glad tidings of Thy fatherly love that never fails, for the
brotherhood that binds together all Thy children, and for the immortal
hope that beckons us up and on. By faithful living may we make life
divine, and by brotherly service show Thee our gratitude and love. May
the gospel of Jesus prevail in all hearts, speedily bring all wanderers
home, draw our souls heavenward, and prepare us for higher and larger
realms of service, where we shall forever live to Thy glory. Amen.
RUSH R. SHIPPEN.
July 18
_That man has a liberal education who has been so trained in youth
that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease
and pleasure the work that it is capable of; whose intellect is a
clear logic engine, ready to spin the gossamer as well as forge the
anchors of the mind--one full of life and fire but whose passions
are trained to come to heel by a rigorous will; the servant of a
tender conscience; who has learned to love beauty, to hate vileness
and to respect others as himself; such a one is in harmony with
nature; they will get on together._
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY.
Our Father, we would face this day in conscious companionship with Thee.
Give us to know Thy will, to do Thy work. Help us to interpret aright
Thy constant revelation of love in nature and in the experiences of
life. Give us strength so to will and so to act that we may make this
day rich in the joy that comes from helpful living. May divine impulse
find quick expression in righteous deed. In Thine unresting effort to
make this world Thine own may we join with glad hearts. Rejoicing in Thy
love, strong in the consciousness of Thy presence, may we go to our
day's work with unwavering purpose to do Thy will. Amen.
LATHAN A. CRANDALL.
July 19
_A lily grows mysteriously, pushing up its solid weight of stem and
leaf in the teeth of gravity. Shaped into beauty by secret and
invisible fingers, the flower develops we know not how. But we do
not wonder at it. Every day the thing is done; it is Nature, it is
God. We are spiritual enough at least to understand that. But when
the soul rises slowly above the world, pushing up its delicate
virtues in the teeth of sin, shaping itself mysteriously into the
image of Christ, we deny that the power is not of man. A strong
will, we say, a high ideal, the reward of virtue, Christian
influence--these will account for it. Spiritual character is merely
the product of anxious work, self-command, and self-denial. We
allow, that is to say, a miracle to the lily, but none to the man.
The lily may grow; the man must fret and toil and spin._
HENRY DRUMMOND.
This morning, our God, we need Thee! Give us Thyself afresh in the holy
inspiration of heart warmth and burning love, that today we may have
power from above while we walk and toil with things and folks of earth.
May we be the vase to hold the blossoming beauty of Thy unfolding. So
may that beauty which Thou givest unfold in acts which we are led to
perform, and the holiness of this day set fast character drawn from
Thee. Thus may we all who are Thy children gladden the earth with
unfolding beauty and kindness and shut out the things that are earthy.
Amen.
E. E. SMALL.
July 20
_The more simply you live, the more secure is your future; you are
less at the mercy of surprises and reverses. An illness or a period
of idleness does not suffice to dispossess you; a change of
position, even considerable, does not put you to confusion. Having
simple needs, you find it less painful to accustom yourself to the
hazards of fortune. You remain a man, though you lose your office
or your income, because the foundation on which your life rests is
not your table, your cellar, your horses, your goods and chattels,
or your money. In adversity you will not act like a nursling
deprived of its bottle and rattle. Stronger, better armed for the
struggle, presenting like those with shaven heads, less advantage
to the hands of your enemy, you will also be of more profit to your
neighbor._
CHARLES WAGNER.
O Thou who art ever the same, with the growing light of a new day, we
would again take Thy name upon our lips; and again invite the dear
consciousness of Thy presence. We do not know what this day may yield
us. It may bring disaster; perhaps cherished hopes must be surrendered;
plans may miscarry, clouds may gather, and storms may rage, but we will
not be unmanned. We will not surrender our hold upon Thee. May we thus
be enabled to meet disaster with courage, and unlooked for joy with the
poise of humility. Guard our goings-out and our comings-in, and lead us
into the beauteous paths of ripe content. Amen.
JAMES HARRY HOLDEN.
July 21
_Love wore a suit of hodden gray
And toiled within the fields all day._
_Love wielded pick and carried pack
And bent to heavy loads the back._
_Though meagre fed and sorely lashed,
The only wage Love ever asked,_
_A child's wan face to kiss at night,
A woman's smile by candle light._
MARGARET SANGSTER.
Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for love. How rich a gift it has
been to us, and how exhaustless. It has been the source of all other
gifts. We thank Thee for the brightness and gladness with which love
invests the sunny day, and more for the patience and hope which it
inspires when the sky is overcast and the way grows weary. In joy or
sorrow we can ask nothing better than that it be our constant guest. We
thank Thee for home life which offers us every hour its opportunity to
give and to receive love. May it be to us the symbol of Thy great
household which Thy love pervades. And as we thus think of it may our
home life grow to us more holy and divine and Thy love for all Thy
children more personal and tender until Thy kingdom come and Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
VINCENT E. TOMLINSON.
July 22
_The entire object of true education is to make people not merely
do the right things, but enjoy the right things--not merely
industrious, but to love industry--not merely learned, but to love
knowledge--not merely pure, but to love purity--not merely just,
but to hunger and thirst after justice._
JOHN RUSKIN.
O Father, fill us with Thy love today, with love for Thee, and love for
the morning light and all Thy glory. Fill us with love for the work that
Thou dost give us to do, with love for the truth that Thou dost reveal
to us and with love for the ideals of purity and righteousness that Thou
dost set before us. May we have love for all Thy children. Make us
realize that they are all our brothers and sisters. Make us strive to
have Thy will done in their lives. Make us eager to have them know Thee.
Amen.
CHARLES B. BLISS.
July 23
_If you were toiling up a weary hill,
Bearing a load beyond your strength to bear.
Straining each nerve untiringly and still
Stumbling and losing foothold here and there
And each one passing by would do so much
As give one upward lift and go his way,
Would not the slight reiterated touch
Of help and kindness lighten all the day?_
_If you were breasting a keen wind which tossed
And buffeted and chilled you as you strove,
Till baffled and bewildered quite, you lost
The power to see the way, and aim and move,
And one, if only for a moment's space,
Gave you a shelter from the bitter blast,
Would you not find it easier to face
The storm again when the brief rest was past?_
SUSAN COOLIDGE.
Our Father, as we thank Thee for the friendly service and sympathy that
bless and strengthen our daily lives, we pray that our gratitude may
move us to give a like service and sympathy as freely as we receive. In
the day to whose beginning Thou hast brought us, let our hearts and
hands be ready to meet the needs of those with whom we come in touch. So
influence our wayward wills that we shall not walk in selfish ways, nor
forget the ties that bind us to one another, and to Thee. Keep us
conscious of our birthright as Thy children, that our acts and aims may
be filial and fraternal and loyal to Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
COSTELLO WESTON.
July 24
_It matters little where I was born,
Whether my parents were rich or poor,
Whether they shrank from the cold world's scorn
Or walked in the pride of wealth secure;
But whether I live an honest man,
And hold my integrity firm in my clutch,
I tell you brother, plain as I am,
It matters much._
FROM THE SWEDISH.
Dear Father in Heaven, good Giver of all,
For birth in a land fair and free,
For parents with pluck, if not the best luck,
Who toiled and who suffered for me.
Who never knew fear, though the scorners were near,
Whom circumstance filled not with pride,
I thank Thee! These gifts, more than all on the lists,
Have mattered with me, and abide.
While striving and struggling my manhood to build,
To live like Thine own perfect Son,
I find on Earth's face not just one single place
Where such work so well can be done
As in the fair land which from Thy gracious hand
Comes to me a home to enjoy,
Where man, who should grow, may all liberty know
In seeking the soul's high employ.
Amen.
FREDERICK C. PRIEST.
July 25
_Don't object that your duties are so insignificant; they are to be
reckoned of infinite significance, and alone important to you. Were
it but the more perfect regulation of your apartments, the sorting
away of your clothes and trinkets, the arranging of your
papers,--"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
might," and all thy worth and constancy. Much more, if your duties
are of evidently higher, wider scope; if you have brothers,
sisters, a father, a mother, weigh earnestly what claim does lie
upon you on behalf of each, and consider it as the one thing
needful, to pay them more and more honestly and nobly what you owe.
What matter how miserable one is if one can do that? That is the
sure and steady disconnection and extinction of whatsoever miseries
one has in this world._
THOMAS CARLYLE.
Creator of things, Father of Spirits, standing at the dawn of a new day
we seek Thy blessing. We know not what awaits us, Thou knowest, grant us
guidance! Help us to see all our duties in the light of Thy countenance.
Thou hast made the little and the large, help us to see our duties in
their relation to Thy plans. Whatsoever we do, help us to do all to Thy
glory. Help us to sweep our floors as to Thy laws, right our rooms as a
part of Thy universe, care for our clothes as gifts from Thee. Help us
to see Thee in the souls Thou hast sent into the world, to treat them as
thinking-thoughts of Thine, expressions of Thy life. May we owe no man
anything but to love, may the sun never set on an unpaid bill. For Thy
name's sake. Amen.
O. P. GIFFORD.
July 26
_Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
No man has learned anything rightly until he knows that every day
is doomsday. Today is a king in disguise. Today always looks mean
to the thoughtless, in the face of an uniform experience that all
good and great and happy actions are made up precisely of these
blank todays. Let us not be so deceived, let us unmask the king as
he passes._
RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
Our Father, we thank Thee for this morning that ushers in the only day
of which we have promise. Whether it proves to be a day of sunshine or
of clouds,--of joy or of sorrow,--may we live it with thankfulness, with
perfect confidence that Thou wilt always give us that which is for our
own good. Help us to spend this day in doing well what our hands find to
do; may our souls breathe the spirit of love and helpfulness to all, and
may we have abundantly the influence of Thy divine spirit to keep us
pure. Amen.
LUTHER F. MCKINNEY.
July 27
_I like the man who faces what he must
With heart triumphant and a step of cheer;
Who fights the daily battle without fear;
Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust
That God is God; that somehow, true and just,
His plans work out for mortals; not a tear
Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear,
Falls from his grasp; better, with love, a crust
Than living in dishonor; envies not,
Nor loses faith in man; but does his best,
Nor even murmurs at his humbler lot;
But with a smile and words of hope, gives zest
To every toiler; he alone is great
Who by a life heroic conquers fate._
SARAH KNOWLES BOLTON.
Gracious Father, last night we laid ourselves down in peace to sleep,
but it was Thou who madest us to dwell in safety, and when we awoke this
morning we found ourselves still with Thee. Thy loving favor was keeping
faithful watch and ward while we slumbered. We thank Thee for Thy kindly
care of our lives during the darkness and danger of the night. Confident
of Thy continued presence and armed with Thy unfailing strength, we
would go forth to meet the duties and delights of the new day. God with
us, we will overcome every temptation, endure every trial, bear every
burden, and improve every opportunity of character-building and
service-rendering, in the trustful and courageous spirit of Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
RALPH E. CONNER.
July 28
_How large a part of our Godward life is travelled, not by clear
landmarks seen far off in the promised land, but as travellers
climb a mountain peak, by putting footstep after footstep, slowly
and patiently, into the prints which someone going before us, with
keener sight, with stronger nerves, tied to us by the cord of
saintly sympathy, has planted deep into the pathless snow of the
bleak distance that stretches up between humanity and God.... So we
ascend by one another. We live by one another's blessings._
PHILLIPS BROOKS.
Our Father, we thank Thee for the light of a new day. May a new spirit
and new courage come to our hearts. We thank Thee for all those who by
patient toil and self-forgetting effort have made life as sweet and
precious to us as it is. If we can no longer hear the voices nor see the
faces of those we love or have reason to revere, may we be able to see
their foot-prints and to take the way they trod, though that way seem
steep and hard. May we be assured that the upward way leads to the
expanding view and brings us to the splendor of the setting sun or of
the still more glorious dawn. Amen.
HILARY BYGRAVE.
July 29
_A prince went into the vineyard to examine it. He came to a peach
tree, and said, "What are you doing for me?" The tree said, "In the
spring I give my blossoms and fill the air with fragrance, and on
my boughs hangs the fruit which men will gather and carry into the
palace for you." "Well done!" said the prince. To the chestnut he
said, "What are you doing?" "I am making nests for the birds, and
shelter cattle with my leaves and spreading branches." And the
prince said, "Well done!" Then he went down to the meadow and asked
the grass what it was doing. "We are giving our lives for others,
for your sheep and cattle that they may be nourished." And the
prince said, "Well done!" Last of all he asked the tiny daisy what
it was doing, and the daisy said, "Nothing, nothing. I cannot make
a nesting-place for the birds, and I cannot give shelter for the
cattle, and I cannot send fruit into the palace, and I cannot even
give food for the sheep and cows,--they do not want me in the
meadow. All I can do is to be the best little daisy I can be." And
the prince bent down and kissed the daisy, and said, "There is none
better than thou."_
ANONYMOUS.
Help us, O Father, not to wait for the great opportunities which may
never come. Help us to do with faithfulness the duties which lie close
at hand. In our homes this day and wherever we may be--at school or on
the street or at our work--fill our hearts with the spirit of Christ and
let that spirit speak in every word which passes our lips and shine from
our faces and work with our hands. Amen.
WALTER A. TUTTLE.
July 30
_I will be glad all day for this cool draught
And the clear drops I dash upon my brow;
For the fresh glint of sunlight on the tree
And the bird singing on the bough._
_I will be glad for that stored strength of life
Which lasts the day because the spirit wills;
For the live air that wings from far and breathes
The vigor of the everlasting hills._
_What scope of toil, what loss or what reward,
I do not know. It is enough that now
I pledge the day's good cheer with this cool draught
And the drops dashed upon my brow._
CHARLES P. CLEAVES.
Our Father, we are nursed in Thine arms, we are rested in the heart of
Jesus, so that we know no more the emptiness of earth and the poverty of
time, for our citizenship is in heaven, already do we walk the streets
of gold. Out of the highest rapture may we come to do earth's plainest
work, earth's hardest toil, with patient hearts and willing hands,
knowing that death can be but for a moment, that all things are meant,
in the sovereignty of God to give themselves up to the rule of life.
Thus may Thy children be loyal citizens, patient workers, honest
merchantmen, wise parents. Be with all men who trust Thee; melt the
mountains before their coming, and open the gates of difficulty ere they
reach them, and give them to feel that the greatness of Thy mercy is the
proof of its divinity. Amen.
JOSEPH PARKER.
July 31
_For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come._
_Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord._
ROMANS viii. 38-39.