yourself by halves, you cannot find full rest; there will ever be a lurking
disquiet in that half which is withheld. Martyrs, confessors, and saints
have tasted this rest, and "counted themselves happy in that they endured."
A countless host of God's faithful servants have drunk deeply of it under
the daily burden of a weary life,--dull, commonplace, painful, or desolate.
All that God has been to them He is ready to be to you. The heart once
fairly given to God, with a clear conscience, a fitting rule of life, and
a steadfast purpose of obedience, you will find a wonderful sense of rest
coming over you.
JEAN NICOLAS GROU.
May 16
_Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His
might_.--EPH. vi. 10.
_No man can serve two masters_.--MATT. vi. 24.
Oh, there are heavenly heights to reach
In many a fearful place,
Where the poor timid heir of God
Lies blindly on his face;
Lies languishing for grace divine
That he shall never see
Till he go forward at Thy sign,
And trust himself to Thee.
A. L. WARING.
Reservations lie latent in the mind concerning some unhallowed sentiments
or habits in the present, some possibly impending temptations in the
future; and thus do we cheat ourselves of inward and outward joys together.
We give up many an indulgence for conscience' sake, but stop short at that
point of entire faithfulness wherein conscience could reward us. If we
would but give ourselves wholly to God,--give up, for the present and the
future, every act, and, above all, every thought and every feeling, to be
all purified to the uttermost, and rendered the best, noblest, holiest we
can conceive,--then would sacrifice bear with it a peace rendering itself,
I truly believe, far easier than before.
F. P. COBBE.
May 17
_Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also
ye do_.--I THESS. v. 11.
_Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself_.--MATT. xix. 19.
So others shall
Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand,
From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer,
And God's grace fructify through thee to all.
The least flower with a brimming cup may stand,
And share its dewdrop with another near.
E. B. BROWNING.
What is meant by our neighbor we cannot doubt; it is every one with whom we
are brought into contact. First of all, he is literally our neighbor who
is next to us in our own family and household; husband to wife, wife to
husband, parent to child, brother to sister, master to servant, servant to
master. Then it is he who is close to us in our own neighborhood, in our
own town, in our own parish, in our own street. With these all true charity
begins. To love and be kind to these is the very beginning of all true
religion. But, besides these, as our Lord teaches, it is every one who
is thrown across our path by the changes and chances of life; he or she,
whosoever it be, whom we have any means of helping,--the unfortunate
stranger whom we may meet in travelling, the deserted friend whom no one
else cares to look after.
A. P. STANLEY.
May 18
_We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the
brethren_.--I JOHN iii. 14.
_He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love_.--I JOHN iv. 8.
Mutual love the token be,
Lord, that we belong to Thee;
Love, Thine image, love impart;
Stamp it on our face and heart;
Only love to us be given;
Lord, we ask no other heaven.
C WESLEY.
Oh, how many times we can most of us remember when we would gladly have
made any compromise with our consciences, would gladly have made the most
costly sacrifices to God, if He would only have excused us from this duty
of loving, of which our nature seemed utterly incapable. It is far easier
to feel kindly, to act kindly, toward those with whom we are seldom brought
into contact, whose tempers and prejudices do not rub against ours, whose
interests do not clash with ours, than to keep up an habitual, steady,
self-sacrificing love towards those whose weaknesses and faults are always
forcing themselves upon us, and are stirring up our own. A man may pass
good muster as a philanthropist who makes but a poor master to his
servants, or father to his children.
F. D. MAURICE.
May 19
_Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him_.--PS. xxxvii. 7.
_Trust in Him at all times_.--PS. lxii. 8.
Dost thou ask when comes His hour?
Then, when it shall aid thee best.
Trust His faithfulness and power,
Trust in Him, and quiet rest.
ANON.
I had found [communion with God] to consist, not only in the silencing of
the outward man, but in the silencing also of every thought, and in the
concentration of the soul and all its powers into a simple, quiet watching
and waiting for the food which its heavenly Father might see fit either
to give or to withhold. In no case could it be sent empty away; for, if
comfort, light, or joy were withheld, the act of humble waiting at the gate
of heavenly wisdom could not but work patience in it, and thus render it,
by humility and obedience, more "meet to be a partaker of the inheritance
of the saints in light," and also more blessed in itself.
M. A. KELTY.
"REST IN THE LORD; WAIT PATIENTLY FOR HIM." In Hebrew, "be silent to God,
and let Him mould thee." Keep still, and He will mould thee to the right
shape.
MARTIN LUTHER.
May 20
_To be spiritually minded is life and peace_.--ROM. viii. 6.
Stilled now be every anxious care;
See God's great goodness everywhere;
Leave all to Him in perfect rest:
He will do all things for the best.
FROM THE GERMAN.
We should all endeavor and labor for a calmer spirit, that we may the
better serve God in praying to Him and praising Him; and serve one another
in love, that we may be fitted to do and receive good; that we may make our
passage to heaven more easy and cheerful, without drooping and hanging the
wing. So much as we are quiet and cheerful upon good ground, so much we
live, and are, as it were, in heaven.
R. SIBBES.
Possess yourself as much as you possibly can in peace; not by any effort,
but by letting all things fall to the ground which trouble or excite you.
This is no work, but is, as it were, a setting down a fluid to settle that
has become turbid through agitation.
MADAME GUYON.
May 21
_The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall
cover him all the day long_.--DEUT. xxxiii. 12.
Whate'er events betide,
Thy will they all perform;
Safe in Thy breast my head I hide,
Nor fear the coming storm.
H. F. LYTE.
I have seemed to see a need of everything God gives me, and want nothing
that He denies me. There is no dispensation, though afflictive, but either
in it, or after it, I find that I could not be without it. Whether it
be taken from or not given me, sooner or later God quiets me in Himself
without it. I cast all my concerns on the Lord, and live securely on the
care and wisdom of my heavenly Father. My ways, you know, are, in a sense,
hedged up with thorns, and grow darker and darker daily; but yet I distrust
not my good God in the least, and live more quietly in the absence of all
by faith, than I should do, I am persuaded, if I possessed them.
JOSEPH ELIOT, 1664.
May 22
_He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty_.--PS. xci. I.
They who on the Lord rely,
Safely dwell though danger's nigh;
Lo! His sheltering wings are spread
O'er each faithful servant's head.
When they wake, or when they sleep,
Angel guards their vigils keep;
Death and danger may be near,
Faith and love have nought to fear.
HARRIET AUBER.
"There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling," is a promise to the fullest extent verified in the case of all
"who dwell in the secret place of the Most High." To them sorrows are not
"evils," sicknesses are not "plagues;" the shadow of the Almighty extending
far around those who abide under it, alters the character of all things
which come within its influence.
ANON.
It is faith's work to claim and challenge loving-kindness out of all the
roughest strokes of God.
S. RUTHERFORD.
MAY 23
_Be content with such things as ye have_.--HEB. xiii. 5.
_I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content_.--PHIL.
iv. 11 ( R. V.).
No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
J. G. WHITTIER.
If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these:--
1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather.
2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou
art not.
3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.
4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or
were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more
wisely than thou dost thyself.
5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The
heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will
provide."
E. B. PUSEY.
May 24
_Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby_.--HEB. xii. I1.
I cannot say,
Beneath the pressure of life's cares to-day,
I joy in these;
But I can say
That I had rather walk this rugged way,
If Him it please.
S. G. BROWNING.
The particular annoyance which befell you this morning; the vexatious words
which met your ear and "grieved" your spirit; the disappointment which was
His appointment for to-day; the slight but hindering ailment; the presence
of some one who is "a grief of mind" to you,--whatever this day seemeth not
joyous, but grievous, is linked in "the good pleasure of His goodness" with
a corresponding afterward of "peaceable fruit," the very seed from which,
if you only do not choke it, this shall spring and ripen.
F. R. HAVERGAL.
May 25
_O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless
not as I will, but as Thou wilt_.--MATT. xxvi. 39.
O Lord my God, do Thou Thy holy will,--
I will lie still.
I will not stir, lest I forsake Thine arm,
And break the charm
Which lulls me, clinging to my Father's breast,
In perfect rest.
J. KEBLE.
Resignation to the will of God is the whole of piety; it includes in it all
that is good; and is a source of the most settled quiet and composure of
mind. Our resignation to the will of God may be said to be perfect, when
our will is lost and resolved up into His; when we rest in His will as
our end, as being itself most just, and right, and good. And where is the
impossibility of such an affection to what is just and right and good, such
a loyalty of heart to the Governor of the universe, as shall prevail over
all sinister indirect desires of our own?
JOSEPH BUTLER.
There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of
God.
F. W. FABER.
Lord, Thy will be done in father, mother, child, in everything and
everywhere; without a reserve, without a BUT, an IF, or a limit.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.
May 26
_The Lord beareth your murmurings, which ye murmur against Him_.--EX. xvi.
8.
Without murmur, uncomplaining
In His hand,
Leave whatever things thou canst not
Understand.
K. R. HAGENBACH.
One great characteristic of holiness is never to be exacting--never to
complain. Each complaint drags us down a degree, in our upward course.
If you would discern in whom God's spirit dwells, watch that person, and
notice whether you ever hear him murmur.
GOLD DUST.
When we wish things to be otherwise than they are, we lose sight of the
great practical parts of the life of godliness. We wish, and wish--when, if
we have done all that lies on us, we should fall quietly into the hands of
God. Such wishing cuts the very sinews of our privileges and consolations.
You are leaving me for a time; and you say that you wish you could leave me
better, or leave me with some assistance: but, if it is right for you to
go, it is right for me to meet what lies on me, without a wish that I had
less to meet, or were better able to meet it.
R. CECIL.
May 27
_He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in
much_.--LUKE xvi, 10.
_The Lord preserveth the faithful_.--PS. xxxi. 23
The trivial round, the common task,
Would furnish all we ought to ask;
Room to deny ourselves; a road
To bring us, daily, nearer God.
J. KEBLE.
Exactness in little duties is a wonderful source of cheerfulness.
F. W. FABER.
The unremitting retention of simple and high sentiments in obscure duties
is hardening the character to that temper which will work with honor, if
need be, in the tumult or on the scaffold.
R. W. EMERSON.
We are too fond of our own will. We want to be doing what we fancy mighty
things; but the great point is, to do small things, when called to them, in
a right spirit.
R. CECIL.
It is not on great occasions only that we are required to be faithful to
the will of God; occasions constantly occur, and we should be surprised to
perceive how much our spiritual advancement depends on small obediences.
MADAME SWETCHINE.
May 28
_Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all
patience and long-suffering with joyfulness_.--COL. I. 11.
God doth not need
Either man's works or His own gifts; who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state
Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.
J. MILTON.
We cannot always be doing a great work, but we can always be doing
something that belongs to our condition. To be silent, to suffer, to
pray when we cannot act, is acceptable to God. A disappointment, a
contradiction, a harsh word, an annoyance, a wrong received and endured as
in His presence, is worth more than a long prayer; and we do not lose time
if we bear its loss with gentleness and patience, provided the loss was
inevitable, and was not caused by our own fault.
FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.
May 29
_Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises_.--HEB. vi. 12.
Where now with pain thou treadest, trod
The whitest of the saints of God!
To show thee where their feet were set,
The light which led them shineth yet.
J. G. WHITTIER.
LET us learn from this communion of saints to live in hope. Those who are
now at rest were once like ourselves. They were once weak, faulty, sinful;
they had their burdens and hindrances, their slumbering and weariness,
their failures and their falls. But now they have overcome. Their life was
once homely and common-place. Their day ran out as ours. Morning and noon
and night came and went to them as to us. Their life, too, was as lonely
and sad as yours. Little fretful circumstances and frequent disturbing
changes wasted away their hours as yours. There is nothing in your life
that was not in theirs; there was nothing in theirs but may be also in your
own. They have overcome, each one, and one by one; each in his turn, when
the day came, and God called him to the trial. And so shall you likewise.
H. E. MANNING.
May 30
_And thus this man died, leaving his death for an example of a noble
courage, and a memorial of virtue, not only unto young men, but unto all
his nation_.--2 MAC. vi. 31.
_Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the
death in the high places of the field_.--JUDGES v. 18.
Though Love repine, and Reason chafe,
There came a voice without reply,--
'Tis man's perdition to be safe,
When for the truth he ought to die.
R. W. EMERSON.
Some say that the age of chivalry is past. The age of chivalry is never
past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth, or a man or
woman left to say, "I will redress that wrong, or spend my life in the
attempt." The age of chivalry is never past, so long as we have faith
enough to say, "God will help me to redress that wrong; or, if not me, He
will help those that come after me, for His eternal Will is to overcome
evil with good."
C. KINGSLEY.
Thus man is made equal to every event. He can face danger for the right. A
poor, tender, painful body, he can run into flame or bullets or pestilence,
with duty for his guide.
R. W. EMERSON.
May 31
_Let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: ... let them also that
love Thy name be joyful in Thee_.--PS. v. 11.
_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures_.--PS. xxiii. 2.
I can hear these violets chorus
To the sky's benediction above;
And we all are together lying
On the bosom of Infinite Love.
Oh, the peace at the heart of Nature!
Oh, the light that is not of day!
Why seek it afar forever,
When it cannot be lifted away?
W. C. GANNETT.
What inexpressible joy for me, to look up through the apple-blossoms and
the fluttering leaves, and to see God's love there; to listen to the thrush
that has built his nest among them, and to feel God's love, who cares for
the birds, in every note that swells his little throat; to look beyond
to the bright blue depths of the sky, and feel they are a canopy of
blessing,--the roof of the house of my Father; that if clouds pass over
it, it is the unchangeable light they veil; that, even when the day itself
passes, I shall see that the night itself only unveils new worlds of light;
and to know that if I could unwrap fold after fold of God's universe, I
should only unfold more and more blessing, and see deeper and deeper into
the love which is at the heart of all.
ELIZABETH CHARLES.
June 1
_One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the
beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple_.--PS. xxvii. 4.
Thy beauty, O my Father! All is Thine;
But there is beauty in Thyself, from whence
The beauty Thou hast made doth ever flow
In streams of never-failing affluence.
Thou art the Temple! and though I am lame,--
Lame from my birth, and shall be till I die,--
I enter through the Gate called Beautiful,
And am alone with Thee, O Thou Most High!
J. W. CHADWICK.
Consider that all which appears beautiful outwardly, is solely derived from
the invisible Spirit which is the source of that external beauty, and
say joyfully, "Behold, these are streamlets from the uncreated Fountain;
behold, these are drops from the infinite Ocean of all good! Oh! how does
my inmost heart rejoice at the thought of that eternal, infinite Beauty,
which is the source and origin of all created beauty!"
L. SCUPOLI.
June 2
_We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord_.--2 COR. iii. 18.
Then every tempting form of sin,
Shamed in Thy presence, disappears,
And all the glowing, raptured soul
The likeness it contemplates wears.
P. DODDRIDGE.
Then does a good man become the tabernacle of God, wherein the divine
Shechinah does rest, and which the divine glory fills, when the frame of
his mind and life is wholly according to that idea and pattern which he
receives from the mount. We best glorify Him when we grow most like to
Him: and we then act most for His glory, when a true spirit of sanctity,
justice, and meekness, runs through all our actions; when we so live in the
world as becomes those that converse with the great Mind and Wisdom of the
whole world, with that Almighty Spirit that made, supports, and governs all
things, with that Being from whence all good flows, and in which there is
no spot, stain, or shadow of evil; and so being captivated and overcome by
the sense of the Divine loveliness and goodness, endeavor to be like Him,
and conform ourselves, as much as may be, to Him.
DR. JOHN SMITH.
June 3
_The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in Him_.--PS.
lxiv. 10.
_Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he_.--PROV. xvi. 20.
The heart that trusts forever sings,
And feels as light as it had wings,
A well of peace within it springs,--
Come good or ill,
Whatever to-day, to-morrow brings,
It is His will.
I. WILLIAMS.
He will weave no longer a spotted life of shreds and patches, but he will
live with a divine unity. He will cease from what is base and frivolous
in his life, and be content with all places, and with any service he can
render. He will calmly front the morrow, in the negligency of that trust
which carries God with it, and so hath already the whole future in the
bottom of the heart.
R. W. EMERSON.
He who believes in God is not careful for the morrow, but labors joyfully
and with a great heart. "For He giveth His beloved, as in sleep." They must
work and watch, yet never be careful or anxious, but commit all to Him, and
live in serene tranquillity; with a quiet heart, as one who sleeps safely
and quietly.
MARTIN LUTHER.
June 4
_Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is
not in vain in the Lord_.--I COR. xv. 58.
Say not, 'Twas all in vain,
The anguish and the darkness and the strife;
Love thrown upon the waters comes again
In quenchless yearnings for a nobler life.
ANNA SHIPTON.
Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and
singly toward an object and in no measure obtained it? If a man constantly
aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity,
truth, sincerity, and find that there was no advantage in them,--that it
was a vain endeavor?
H. D. THOREAU.
Do right, and God's recompense to you will be the power of doing more
right. Give, and God's reward to you will be the spirit of giving more:
a blessed spirit, for it is the Spirit of God himself, whose Life is the
blessedness of giving. Love, and God will pay you with the capacity of more
love; for love is Heaven--love is God within you.
F. W. ROBERTSON.
June 5
_Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth_.--I SAM. iii. 9.
Though heralded with nought of fear,
Or outward sign or show:
Though only to the inward ear
It whispers soft and low;
Though dropping, as the manna fell,
Unseen, yet from above,
Noiseless as dew-fall, heed it well,--
Thy Father's call of love.
J. G. WHITTIER.
This is one result of the attitude into which we are put by humility, by
disinterestedness, by purity, by calmness, that we have the opportunity,
the disengagement, the silence, in which we may watch what is the will of
God concerning us. If we think no more of ourselves than we ought to think,
if we seek not our own but others' welfare, if we are prepared to take all
things as God's dealings with us, then we may have a chance of catching
from time to time what God has to tell us. In the Mussulman devotions, one
constant gesture is to put the hands to the ears, as if to listen for the
messages from the other world. This is the attitude, the posture which our
minds assume, if we have a standing-place above and beyond the stir and
confusion and dissipation of this mortal world.
A. P. STANLEY.
June 6
_Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God_.--REV.
iii. 12.
_In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the
Spirit_.--EPH. ii. 22.
None the place ordained refuseth,
They are one, and they are all,
Living stones, the Builder chooseth
For the courses of His wall.
JEAN INGELOW.
Slowly, through all the universe, that temple of God is being built.
Wherever, in any world, a soul, by free-willed obedience, catches the fire
of God's likeness, it is set into the growing walls, a living stone.
When, in your hard fight, in your tiresome drudgery, or in your terrible
temptation, you catch the purpose of your being, and give yourself to God,
and so give Him the chance to give Himself to you, your life, a living
stone, is taken up and set into that growing wall. Wherever souls are being
tried and ripened, in whatever commonplace and homely ways;--there God is
hewing out the pillars for His temple. Oh, if the stone can only have some
vision of the temple of which it is to be a part forever, what patience
must fill it as it feels the blows of the hammer, and knows that success
for it is simply to let itself be wrought into what shape the Master wills.
PHILLIPS BROOKS.
June 7
_Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day_.--I THESS.
v. 5.
_Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in
heart_.--PS. xcvii. 11.
Serene will be our days and bright,
And happy will our nature be,
When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own security.
W. WORDSWORTH.