His daily teachers had been woods and rills,
The silence that is in the starry sky,
The sleep that is among the lonely hills.
W. Wordsworth.
That spirit which suffices quiet hearts, which seems to come forth to
such from every dry knoll of sere grass, from every pine-stump, and
half-embedded stone, on which the dull March sun shines, comes forth to the
poor and hungry, and to such as are of simple taste. If thou fill thy brain
with Boston and New York, with fashion and covetousness, and wilt stimulate
thy jaded senses with wine and French coffee, thou shall find no radiance
of wisdom in the lonely waste of the pine-woods.
R. W. EMERSON.
As a countenance is made beautiful by the soul's shining through it, so the
world is beautiful by the shining through it of a God.
FRIEDRICH HEINRICH JACOBI.
April 1
_For Thou Invest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which Thou
hast made: for never wouldest Thou have made any thing, if Thou hadst
hated it. But Thou sparest all: for they are Thine, O Lord, Thou lover of
souls_.--WISDOM OF SOLOMON xi. 24, 26.
He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast;
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
S. T. COLERIDGE.
To know that Love alone was the beginning of nature and creature, that
nothing but Love encompasses the whole universe of things, that the
governing Hand that overrules all, the watchful Eye that sees through all,
is nothing but omnipotent and omniscient Love, using an infinity of wisdom,
to save every misguided creature from the miserable works of its own hands,
and make happiness and glory the perpetual inheritance of all the creation,
is a reflection that must be quite ravishing to every intelligent creature
that is sensible of it.
WM. LAW.
April 2
_Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you_?--I COR. iii. 16.
Father! replenish with Thy grace
This longing heart of mine;
Make it Thy quiet dwelling-place,
Thy sacred inmost shrine!
JOHANN SCHEFFLER.
Not man's manifold labors, but his manifold cares, hinder the presence of
God. Whatsoever thou doest, hush thyself to thine own feverish vanities,
and busy thoughts, and cares; in silence seek thy Father's face, and the
light of His countenance will stream down upon thee. He will make a secret
cell in thine heart, and when thou enterest there, there shalt thou find
Him. And if thou hast found Him there, all around shall reflect Him, all
shall speak to Him, and He will speak through all. Outwardly thou mayest be
doing the work of thy calling; inwardly if thou commend thy work to God,
thou mayest be with Him in the third Heaven.
E. B. PUSEY.
April 3
_As for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do_.--DEUT.
xviii. 14.
Lord, for the erring thought
Not into evil wrought;
Lord, for the wicked will
Betrayed and baffled still;
For the heart from itself kept,
Our Thanksgiving accept.
W. D. HOWELLS.
What an amazing, what a blessed disproportion between the evil we do, and
the evil we are capable of doing, and seem sometimes on the very verge
of doing! If my soul has grown tares, when it was full of the seeds of
nightshade, how happy ought I to be! And that the tares have not wholly
strangled the wheat, what a wonder it is! We ought to thank God daily for
the sins we have not committed.
F. W. FABER.
We give thanks often with a tearful, doubtful voice, for our spiritual
mercies _positive_; but what an almost infinite field there is for mercies
negative! We cannot even imagine all that God has suffered us _not_ to do,
_not_ to be.
F. R. HAVERGAL.
You are surprised at your imperfections--why? I should infer from that,
that your self-knowledge is small. Surely, you might rather be astonished
that you do not fall into more frequent and more grievous faults, and thank
God for His upholding grace.
JEAN NICOLAS GROU.
April 4
_Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of
thy Lord_.--MATT. xxv. 23.
O father! help us to resign
Our hearts, our strength, our wills to Thee;
Then even lowliest work of Thine
Most noble, blest, and sweet will be.
H. M. KIMBALL.
Nothing is too little to be ordered by our Father; nothing too little in
which to see His hand; nothing, which touches our souls, too little to
accept from Him; nothing too little to be done to Him.
E. B. PUSEY.
A soul occupied with great ideas best performs small duties; the divinest
views of life penetrate most clearly into the meanest emergencies; so far
from petty principles being best proportioned to petty trials, a heavenly
spirit taking up its abode with us can alone sustain well the daily toils,
and tranquilly pass the humiliations of our condition.
J. MARTINEAU.
Whoso neglects a thing which he suspects he ought to do, because it seems
to him too small a thing, is deceiving himself; it is not too little, but
too great for him, that he doeth it not.
E. B. PUSEY.
April 5
_Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not
bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him_.--I KINGS xix.
18.
He went down to the great school with a glimmering of another lesson in
his heart,--the lesson that he who has conquered his own coward spirit has
conquered the whole outward world; and that other one which the old prophet
learnt in the cave in Mount Horeb, when he hid his face, and the still
small voice asked, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" that however we may
fancy ourselves alone on the side of good, the King and Lord of men is
nowhere without His witnesses; for in every society, however seemingly
corrupt and godless, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
THOMAS HUGHES.
So, then, Elijah's life had been no failure, after all. Seven thousand at
least in Israel had been braced and encouraged by his example, and silently
blessed him, perhaps, for the courage which they felt. In God's world, for
those who are in earnest there is no failure. No work truly done, no word
earnestly spoken, no sacrifice freely made, was ever made in vain.
F. W. ROBERTSON.
April 6
_In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my
soul_.--PS. xciv. 19.
_Perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed_.--2 COR. iv.
8, 9.
Discouraged in the work of life,
Disheartened by its load,
Shamed by its failures or its fears,
I sink beside the road;--
But let me only think of Thee,
And then new heart springs up in me.
S. LONGFELLOW.
Discouragement is an inclination to give up all attempts after the devout
life, in consequence of the difficulties by which it is beset, and our
already numerous failures in it. We lose heart; and partly in ill-temper,
partly in real doubt of our own ability to persevere, we first grow
querulous and peevish with God, and then relax in our efforts to mortify
ourselves and to please Him. It is a sort of shadow of despair, and will
lead us into numberless venial sins the first half-hour we give way to it.
F. W. FABER.
Never let us be discouraged with ourselves; it is not when we are conscious
of our faults that we are the most wicked; on the contrary, we are less so.
We see by a brighter light; and let us remember, for our consolation, that
we never perceive our sins till we begin to cure them.
FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.
April 7
_That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of
God_.--ROM. xii. 2.
Thou knowest what is best;
And who but Thee, O God, hath power to know?
In Thy great will my trusting heart shall rest;
Beneath that will my humble head shall bow.
T. C. UPHAM.
To those who are His, all things are not only easy to be borne, but even to
be gladly chosen. Their will is united to that will which moves heaven and
earth, which gives laws to angels, and rules the courses of the world. It
is a wonderful gift of God to man, of which we that know so little
must needs speak little. To be at the centre of that motion, where is
everlasting rest; to be sheltered in the peace of God; even now to dwell in
heaven, where all hearts are stayed, and all hopes fulfilled. "Thou shalt
keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee."
H. E. MANNING.
Study to follow His will in all, to have no will but His. This is thy duty,
and thy wisdom. Nothing is gained by spurning and struggling but to hurt
and vex thyself; but by complying all is gained--sweet peace. It is the
very secret, the mystery of solid peace within, to resign all to His will,
to be disposed of at His pleasure, without the least contrary thought.
R. LEIGHTON.
April 8
_The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want_.--PS. xxiii. 1.
_They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing_.--PS. xxxiv. 10.
God, who the universe doth hold
In his fold,
Is my shepherd kind and heedful,
Is my shepherd, and doth keep
Me, his sheep,
Still supplied with all things needful.
F. Davison.
_Who_ is it that is your shepherd? The Lord! Oh, my friends, what a
wonderful announcement! The Lord God of heaven and earth, the almighty
Creator of all things, He who holds the universe in His hand as though it
were a very little thing,--HE is your shepherd, and has charged Himself
with the care and keeping of you, as a shepherd is charged with the care
and keeping of his sheep. If your hearts could really take in this thought,
you would never have a fear or a care again; for with such a shepherd, how
could it be possible for you ever to want any good thing?
H. W. Smith.
April 9
_Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation_.--MATT. xxvi. 41.
I want a sober mind,
A self-renouncing will,
That tramples down and casts behind
The baits of pleasing ill;
A spirit still prepared,
And armed with jealous care,
Forever standing on its guard,
And watching unto prayer.
C. WESLEY.
When you say, "Lead us not into temptation," you must in good earnest mean
to avoid in your daily conduct those temptations which you have already
suffered from. When you say, "Deliver us from evil," you must mean to
struggle against that evil in your hearts, which you are conscious of, and
which you pray to be forgiven. To watch and pray are surely in our power,
and by these means we are certain of getting strength. You feel your
weakness; you fear to be overcome by temptation; then keep out of the way
of it. This is watching. Avoid society which is likely to mislead you; flee
from the very shadow of evil; you cannot be too careful; better be a little
too strict than a little too easy,--it is the safer side. Abstain from
reading books which are dangerous to you. Turn from bad thoughts when they
arise.
J. H. NEWMAN.
April 10
_Not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing
God. Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto
men_.--COL. iii. 22, 23.
Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for Thee.
G. HERBERT.
There is no action so slight nor so mean but it may be done to a great
purpose, and ennobled thereby; nor is any purpose so great but that
slight actions may help it, and may be so done as to help it much, most
especially, that chief of all purposes--the pleasing of God.
J. RUSKIN.
Every duty, even the least duty, involves the whole principle of obedience.
And little duties make the will _dutiful_, that is, supple and prompt to
obey. Little obediences lead into great. The daily round of duty is full of
probation and of discipline; it trains the will, heart, and conscience.
We need not to be prophets or apostles. The commonest life may be full
of perfection. The duties of home are a discipline for the ministries of
heaven.
H. E. MANNING.
April 11
_Wherefore, beloved... be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace,
without spot, and blameless_,--2 PETER iii. 14.
His conscience knows no secret stings,
While grace and joy combine
To form a life whose holy springs
Are hidden and divine.
I. WATTS
Even the smallest discontent of conscience may render turbid the whole
temper of the mind; but only produce the effort that restores its peace,
and over the whole atmosphere a breath of unexpected purity is spread;
doubt and irritability pass as clouds away; the withered sympathies of
earth and home open their leaves and live; and through the clearest blue
the deep is seen of the heaven where God resides.
J. MARTINEAU.
The state of mind which is described as meekness, or quietness of spirit,
is characterized in a high degree by inward harmony. There is not, as
formerly, that inward jarring of thought contending with thought, and
conscience asserting rights which it could not maintain.
T. C. UPHAM.
April 12
_Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God
of love and peace shall be with you_.--2 COR. xiii. 11.
_He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen_?--I JOHN iv. 20.
Lord! subdue our selfish will;
Each to each our tempers suit,
By Thy modulating skill,
Heart to heart, as lute to lute.
C. WESLEY.
It requires far more of the constraining love of Christ to love our cousins
and neighbors as members of the heavenly family, than to feel the heart
warm to our suffering brethren in Tuscany or Madeira. To love the whole
Church is one thing; to love--that is, to delight in the graces and veil
the defects--of the person who misunderstood me and opposed my plans
yesterday, whose peculiar infirmities grate on my most sensitive feelings,
or whose natural faults are precisely those from which my natural character
most revolts, is quite another.
ELIZABETH CHARLES.
April 13
_In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us_.--ROM. viii. 37.
Thus my soul before her God
Lieth still, nor speaketh more,
Conqueror thus o'er pain and wrong,
That once smote her to the core;
Like a silent ocean, bright
With her God's great praise and light.
J. J. WINCKLER.
My mind is forever closed against embarrassment and perplexity, against
uncertainty, doubt, and anxiety; my heart against grief and desire. Calm
and unmoved, I look down on all things, for I know that I cannot explain a
single event, nor comprehend its connection with that which alone concerns
me. In His world all things prosper; this satisfies me, and in this belief
I stand fast as a rock. My breast is steeled against annoyance on account
of personal offences and vexations, or exultation in personal merit; for my
whole personality has disappeared in the contemplation of the purpose of my
being.
J. G. FICHTE.
April 14
_All thing are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye
are Christ's; and Christ is God's_.--I COR. iii. 21, 22, 23.
_As having nothing, and yet possessing all things_,--2 COR. vi. 10.
Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of heaven in each we see:
Some softening gleam of love and prayer
Shall dawn on every cross and care.
J. KEBLE.
Out of love and hatred, out of earnings, and borrowings, and lendings, and
losses; out of sickness and pain, out of wooing and worshipping; out of
travelling, and voting, and watching, and caring; out of disgrace and
contempt, comes our tuition in the serene and beautiful laws. Let him not
slur his lesson; let him learn it by heart. Let him endeavor exactly,
bravely, and cheerfully, to solve the problem of that life which is set
before _him_. And this, by punctual action, and not by promises or dreams.
Believing, as in God, in the presence and favor of the grandest influences,
let him deserve that favor, and learn how to receive and use it, by
fidelity also to the lower observances.
R. W. EMERSON.
April 15
_We know that all things work together for good to them that love
God_.--ROM. viii. 28.
_As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good_.--GEN.
1. 20.
Ill that He blesses is our good,
And unblest good is ill;
And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it be His sweet Will.
F. W. FABER.
To those who know themselves, all things work together for good, and all
things seem to be, as they are to them, good. The goods which God gives
seem "very good," and God Himself in them, because they know that they
deserve them not. The evils which God allows and overrules seem also "very
good," because they see in them His loving hand, put forth to heal them of
what shuts out God from the soul. They love God intensely, in that He is so
good to them in each, and every, the least good, because it is more than
they deserve: how much more in the greatest! They love God for every, and
each, the very greatest of what seem evils, knowing them to be, from His
love, real goods. For He by whom "all the hairs of our head are numbered,"
and who "knoweth whereof we are made," directs everything which befalls us
in life, in perfect wisdom and love, to the well-being of our souls.
E. B. PUSEY.
April 16
_The very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole
spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless. Faithful is He that
calleth you, who also will do it_.--I THESS. v. 23, 24.
Be still, my soul!--the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief and pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide,--
In every change He faithful will remain.
HYMNS FROM THE LAND OF LUTHER.
It was no relief from temporal evils that the Apostle promised. No; the
mercy of God might send them to the stake, or the lions; it was still His
mercy, if it but kept them "unspotted from the world." It might expose
them to insult, calumny, and wrong; they received it still as mercy, if it
"established them in every good word and work." O brethren! how many of
_you_ are content with _such_ faithfulness as this on the part of your
heavenly Father? Is this, indeed, the tone and tenor of your prayers?
WM. ARCHER BUTLER.
The highest pinnacle of the spiritual life is not happy joy in unbroken
sunshine, but absolute and undoubting trust in the love of God.
A. W. THOROLD.
April 17
_Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust_.--PS. xl. 4.
_That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life_.--I TIM. ii. 2.
Just to let thy Father do
What He will;
Just to know that He is true,
And be still;
Just to trust Him, this is all!
Then the day will surely be
Peaceful, whatsoe'er befall,
Bright and blessed, calm and free.
F. R. HAVERGAL.
Every morning compose your soul for a tranquil day, and all through it be
careful often to recall your resolution, and bring yourself back to it, so
to say. If something discomposes you, do not be upset, or troubled; but
having discovered the fact, humble yourself gently before God, and try to
bring your mind into a quiet attitude. Say to yourself, "Well, I have made
a false step; now I must go more carefully and watchfully." Do this each
time, however frequently you fall. When you are at peace use it profitably,
making constant acts of meekness, and seeking to be calm even in the most
trifling things. Above all, do not be discouraged; be patient; wait; strive
to attain a calm, gentle spirit.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.
April 18
_What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God,
to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul_?--DEUT. x. 12.
What asks our Father of His children save
Justice and mercy and humility,
A reasonable service of good deeds,
Pure living, tenderness to human needs,
Reverence, and trust, and prayer for light to see
The Master's footprints in our daily ways?
No knotted scourge, nor sacrificial knife,
But the calm beauty of an ordered life
Whose every breathing is unworded praise.
J. G. WHITTIER.
Give up yourself to God without reserve; in singleness of heart meeting
everything that every day brings forth, as something that comes from God,
and is to be received and gone through by you, in such an heavenly use
of it, as you would suppose the holy Jesus would have done in such
occurrences. This is an attainable degree of perfection.
WM. LAW.
We ought to measure our actual lot, and to fulfil it; to be with all our
strength that which our lot requires and allows. What is beyond it, is no
calling of ours. How much peace, quiet, confidence, and strength, would
people attain, if they would go by this plain rule.
H. E. MANNING.
April 19
_The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him_.--EZRA viii.
22.
_Into Thy hand I commit my spirit_.--PS. xxxi. 5.
Thou layest Thy hand on the fluttering heart,
And sayest, "Be still!"
The silence and shadow are only a part
Of Thy sweet will;
Thy presence is with me, and where Thou art
I fear no ill.
F. R. HAVERGAL.
Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit from thy own thoughts, and
then thou wilt feel the principle of God, to turn thy mind to the Lord God,
from whom life comes; whereby thou mayest receive His strength, and power
to allay all blustering storms and tempests. That is it which works up into
patience, into innocency, into soberness, into stillness, into stayedness,
into quietness, up to God with His power. Therefore be still awhile from
thy own thoughts, searching, seeking, desires, and imaginations, and be
stayed in the principle of God in thee, that it may raise thy mind up to
God, and stay it upon God; and thou wilt find strength from Him, and find
Him to be a God at hand, a present help in the time of trouble and need.
GEORGE FOX.
April 20
_I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my
cry_.--PS. xl. 1.
_Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience,
hope,_--ROM. v. 3, 4.
Lord, we have wandered forth through doubt and sorrow,
And Thou hast made each step an onward one;
And we will ever trust each unknown morrow,--
Thou wilt sustain us till its work is done.
S. JOHNSON.
It is possible, when the future is dim, when our depressed faculties can
form no bright ideas of the perfection and happiness of a better world,--it
is possible still to cling to the conviction of God's merciful purpose
towards His creatures, of His parental goodness even in suffering; still
to feel that the path of duty, though trodden with a heavy heart, leads
to peace; still to be true to conscience; still to do our work, to resist
temptation, to be useful, though with diminished energy, to give up our
wills when we cannot rejoice under God's mysterious providence. In this
patient, though uncheered obedience, we become prepared for light. The soul
gathers force.
WM. E. CHANNING.
April 21
_Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect_.--MATT. v. 48.
_As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied,
when I awake, with Thy likeness_.--PS. xvii. 15.
The righteousness he marks in Thee
His will to right doth win;
Delighting in Thy purity,
He deeply drinks it in.
T. H. GILL.
To love God is to love His character. For instance, God is Purity. And
to be pure in thought and look, to turn away from unhallowed books and
conversation, to abhor the moments in which we have not been pure, is
to love God. God is Love; and to love men till private attachments have
expanded into a philanthropy which embraces all,--at last even the evil and
enemies with compassion,--that is to love God. God is Truth. To be true,
to hate every form of falsehood, to live a brave, true, real life,--that is
to love God. God is Infinite; and to love the boundless, reaching on from
grace to grace, adding charity to faith, and rising upwards ever to see the
Ideal still above us, and to die with it unattained, aiming insatiably to
be perfect even as the Father is perfect,--that is to love God.
F. W. ROBERTSON.
April 22
_Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory_.--I PETER i.
8.
If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord.
F. W. FABER.