measureless gratitude for loving-kindness, and self-devotedness to
goodness; to love Him "with all our mind," is to know the passion for Truth
that is the enthusiasm of Science, the passion for Beauty that inspires
the poet and the artist, when all truth and beauty are regarded as the
self-revealings of God; to love Him "with all our soul," is to know the
saint's rapture of devotion and gaze of penitential awe into the face of
the All-holy, the saint's abhorrence of sin, and agony of desire to save
a sinner's soul; and to love Him "with all our strength," is the supreme
spiritual passion that tests the rest; the passion for reality, for worship
in spirit and in truth, for being what we adore, for doing what we know
to be God's word; the loyalty that exacts the living sacrifice, the whole
burnt-offering that is our reasonable service, and in our coldest hours
keeps steadfast to what seemed good when we were aglow.
J. H. THOM.
July 24
_Walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory_.--I
THESS. ii. 12.
_Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not_.--GEN. xxviii. 16.
Thou earnest not to thy place by accident,
It is the very place God meant for thee;
And shouldst thou there small scope for action see,
Do not for this give room to discontent.
R. C. TRENCH.
Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of
your contemporaries, the connection of events.
R. W. EMERSON.
Adapt thyself to the things with which thy lot has been cast; and love the
men with whom it is thy portion to live, and that with a sincere affection.
No longer be either dissatisfied with thy present lot, or shrink from the
future.
MARCUS ANTONINUS.
I love best to have each thing in its season, doing without it at all other
times. I have never got over my surprise that I should have been born into
the most estimable place in all the world, and in the very nick of time
too.
H. D. THOREAU.
July 25
_He knoweth the way that I take_.--JOB xxiii. 10.
_Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own
way_?--PROV. xx. 24.
Be quiet, why this anxious heed
About thy tangled ways?
God knows them all, He giveth speed,
And He allows delays.
E. W.
We complain of the slow, dull life we are forced to lead, of our humble
sphere of action, of our low position in the scale of society, of our
having no room to make ourselves known, of our wasted energies, of our
years of patience. So do we say that we have no Father who is directing our
life; so do we say that God has forgotten us; so do we boldly judge what
life is best for us, and so by our complaining do we lose the use and
profit of the quiet years. O men of little faith! Because you are not sent
out yet into your labor, do you think God has ceased to remember you?
Because you are forced to be outwardly inactive, do you think you, also,
may not be, in your years of quiet, "about your Father's business"? It is a
period given to us in which to mature ourselves for the work which God will
give us to do.
STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
July 26
_They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be
removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever_.--PS.
cxxv. I, 2.
How on a rock they stand,
Who watch His eye, and hold His guiding hand!
Not half so fixed amid her vassal hills,
Rises the holy pile that Kedron's valley fills.
J. KEBLE.
That is the way to be immovable in the midst of troubles, as a rock amidst
the waves. When God is in the midst of a kingdom or city, He makes it firm
as Mount Sion, that cannot be removed. When He is in the midst of a soul,
though calamities throng about it on all hands, and roar like the billows
of the sea, yet there is a constant calm within, such a peace as the world
can neither give nor take away. What is it but want of lodging God in the
soul, and that in His stead the world is in men's hearts, that makes them
shake like leaves at every blast of danger?
R. LEIGHTON.
July 27
_He that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word,
and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an
hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty_.--MATT. xiii. 23.
Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb;
Keep clean, bear fruit, earn life, and watch
Till the white-winged reapers come.
H. VAUGHAN.
He does not need to transplant us into a different field, but right where
we are, with just the circumstances that surround us, He makes His sun to
shine and His dew to fall upon us, and transforms the very things that were
before our greatest hindrances, into the chiefest and most blessed means
of our growth. No difficulties in your case can baffle Him. No dwarfing
of your growth in years that are past, no apparent dryness of your
inward springs of life, no crookedness or deformity in any of your past
development, can in the least mar the perfect work that He will accomplish,
if you will only put yourselves absolutely into His hands, and let Him have
His own way with you.
H. W. SMITH.
July 28
_But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope_.--I
THESS. iv. 13.
Yet Love will dream, and Faith will trust
(Since He who knows our need is just),
That somehow, somewhere, meet we must.
Alas for him who never sees
The stars shine through his cypress trees;
Who hath not learned in hours of faith,
The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
That life is ever Lord of Death,
And Love can never lose its own.
J. G. WHITTIER.
While we poor wayfarers still toil, with hot and bleeding feet, along the
highway and the dust of life, our companions have but mounted the divergent
path, to explore the more sacred streams, and visit the diviner vales, and
wander amid the everlasting Alps, of God's upper province of creation. And
so we keep up the courage of our hearts, and refresh ourselves with the
memories of love, and travel forward in the ways of duty, with less weary
step, feeling ever for the hand of God, and listening for the domestic
voices of the immortals whose happy welcome waits us. Death, in short,
under the Christian aspect, is but God's method of colonization; the
transition from this mother-country of our race to the fairer and newer
world of our emigration.
J. MARTINEAU.
July 29
_But this I say, brethren, the time is short_.--I COR. vii. 29.
I sometimes feel the thread of life is slender,
And soon with me the labor will be wrought;
Then grows my heart to other hearts more tender.
The time is short.
D. M. CRAIK.
Oh, my dear friends, you who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on
from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day; you who are keeping
wretched quarrels alive because you cannot quite make up your mind that now
is the day to sacrifice your pride and kill them; you who are passing men
sullenly upon the street, not speaking to them out of some silly spite, and
yet knowing that it would fill you with shame and remorse if you heard
that one of those men were dead tomorrow morning; you who are letting your
neighbor starve, till you hear that he is dying of starvation; or letting
your friend's heart ache for a word of appreciation or sympathy, which you
mean to give him some day,--if you only could know and see and feel, all of
a sudden, that "the time is short," how it would break the spell! How you
would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another
chance to do.
PHILLIPS BROOKS.
July 30
_Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to Thy
mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness' sake, O Lord_.--PS. XXV. 7.
When on my aching, burdened heart
My sins lie heavily,
My pardon speak, new peace impart,
In love remember me.
T. HAWEIS.
We need to know that our sins are forgiven. And how shall we know this? By
feeling that we have peace with God,--by feeling that we are able so to
trust in the divine compassion and infinite tenderness of our Father, as
to arise and go to Him, whenever we commit sin, and say at once to Him,
"Father, I have sinned; forgive me." To know that we are forgiven, it is
only necessary to look at our Father's love till it sinks into our heart,
to open our soul to Him till He shall pour His love into it; to wait on Him
till we find peace, till our conscience no longer torments us, till the
weight of responsibility ceases to be an oppressive burden to us, till we
can feel that our sins, great as they are, cannot keep us away from our
Heavenly Father.
J. F. CLARKE.
July 31
_I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud,
thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee_.--ISA. xliv. 22.
_He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our
iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the
sea_.--MICAH vii. 19.
If my shut eyes should dare their lids to part,
I know how they must quail beneath the blaze
Of Thy Love's greatness. No; I dare not raise
One prayer, to look aloft, lest it should gaze
On such forgiveness as would break my heart.
H. S. SUTTON.
O Lord God gracious and merciful, give us, I entreat Thee, a humble trust
in Thy mercy, and suffer not our heart to fail us. Though our sins be
seven, though our sins be seventy times seven, though our sins be more in
number than the hairs of our head, yet give us grace in loving penitence to
cast ourselves down into the depth of Thy compassion. Let us fall into the
hand of the Lord. Amen.
C. G. ROSSETTI.
August 1
_Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of
fools_.--ECCLES. vii. 9.
_Let not the sun go down upon your wrath_--EPH. iv. 26.
Quench thou the fires of hate and strife,
The wasting fever of the heart;
From perils guard our feeble life,
And to our souls Thy peace impart.
J. H. NEWMAN, _Tr. from Latin_.
When thou art offended or annoyed by others, suffer not thy thoughts to
dwell thereon, or on anything relating to them. For example, "that they
ought not so to have treated thee; who they are, or whom they think
themselves to be;" or the like; for all this is fuel and kindling of wrath,
anger, and hatred.
L. SCUPOLI.
Struggle diligently against your impatience, and strive to be amiable and
gentle, in season and out of season, towards every one, however much they
may vex and annoy you, and be sure God will bless your efforts.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.
August 2
_Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord
Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation_.--ISA.
xii. 2.
_Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith_?--MARK. iv. 40.
Still heavy is thy heart?
Still sink thy spirits down?
Cast off the weight, let fear depart,
And every care be gone.
P. GERHARDT.
Go on in all simplicity; do not be so anxious to win a quiet mind, and it
will be all the quieter. Do not examine so closely into the progress of
your soul. Do not crave so much to be perfect, but let your spiritual life
be formed by your duties, and by the actions which are called forth by
circumstances. Do not take overmuch thought for to-morrow. God, who has led
you safely on so far, will lead you on to the end. Be altogether at rest
in the loving holy confidence which you ought to have in His heavenly
Providence.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.
August 3
_Thou hast made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance_.--PS. xxi. 6.
MY heart for gladness springs,
It cannot more be sad,
For very joy it laughs and sings,
Sees nought but sunshine glad.
P. GERHARDT.
A new day rose upon me. It was as if another sun had risen into the sky;
the heavens were indescribably brighter, and the earth fairer; and that day
has gone on brightening to the present hour. I have known the other joys of
life, I suppose, as much as most men; I have known art and beauty, music
and gladness; I have known friendship and love and family ties; but it is
certain that till we see GOD in the world--GOD in the bright and boundless
universe--we never know the highest joy. It is far more than if one were
translated to a world a thousand times fairer than this; for that supreme
and central Light of Infinite Love and Wisdom, shining over this world
and all worlds, alone can show us how noble and beautiful, how fair and
glorious they are.
ORVILLE DEWEY.
When I look like this into the blue sky, it seems so deep, so peaceful, so
full of a mysterious tenderness, that I could lie for centuries and wait
for the dawning of the face of God out of the awful loving-kindness.
G. MACDONALD.
August 4
_He satisfieth the longing soul, and the hungry soul He filleth with
good_.--PS. cvii. 9 (R. V.).
_That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God_.--EPH. iii. 19.
Enough that He who made can fill the soul
Here and hereafter till its deeps o'erflow;
Enough that love and tenderness control
Our fate where'er in joy or doubt we go.
ANON.
O God, the Life of the Faithful, the Bliss of the righteous, mercifully
receive the prayers of Thy suppliants, that the souls which thirst for Thy
promises may evermore be filled from Thy abundance. Amen.
GELASIAN SACRAMENTARY, A. D. 490.
God makes every common thing serve, if thou wilt, to enlarge that capacity
of bliss in His love. Not a prayer, not an act of faithfulness in your
calling, not a self-denying or kind word or deed, done out of love for
Himself; not a weariness or painfulness endured patiently; not a duty
performed; not a temptation resisted; but it enlarges the whole soul for
the endless capacity of the love of God.
E. B. PUSEY.
August 5
_O receive the gift that is given you, and be glad, giving thanks unto Him
that hath called you to the heavenly kingdom_.--2 ESDRAS ii. 37.
_Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift_.--2 COR. ix. 15.
O Giver of each perfect gift!
This day our daily bread supply;
While from the Spirit's tranquil depths
We drink unfailing draughts of joy.
LYRA CATHOLICA.
The best way for a man rightly to enjoy himself, is to maintain a
universal, ready, and cheerful compliance with the divine and uncreated
Will in all things; as knowing that nothing can issue and flow forth from
the fountain of goodness but that which is good; and therefore a good man
is never offended with any piece of divine dispensation, nor hath he any
reluctancy against that Will that dictates and determines all things by
an eternal rule of goodness; as knowing that there is an unbounded and
almighty Love that, without any disdain or envy, freely communicates itself
to everything He made; that always enfolds those in His everlasting arms
who are made partakers of His own image, perpetually nourishing and
cherishing them with the fresh and vital influences of His grace.
DR. JOHN SMITH.
August 6
_Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits_.--PS. ciii. 2.
Wiser it were to welcome and make ours
Whate'er of good, though small, the Present brings,--
Kind greetings, sunshine, song of birds, and flowers,
With a child's pure delight in little things.
R. C. TRENCH.
Into all our lives, in many simple, familiar, homely ways, God infuses this
element of joy from the surprises of life, which unexpectedly brighten our
days, and fill our eyes with light. He drops this added sweetness into His
children's cup, and makes it to run over. The success we were not counting
on, the blessing we were not trying after, the strain of music, in the
midst of drudgery, the beautiful morning picture or sunset glory thrown
in as we pass to or from our daily business, the unsought word of
encouragement or expression of sympathy, the sentence that meant for us
more than the writer or speaker thought,--these and a hundred others that
every one's experience can supply are instances of what I mean. You may
call it accident or chance--it often is; you may call it human goodness--it
often is; but always, always call it God's love, for that is always in it.
These are the overflowing riches of His grace, these are His free gifts.
S. LONGFELLOW.
August 7
_If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth_.--MARK ix. 23.
_Nothing shall be impossible unto you_.--MATT. xvii. 20.
So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When Duty whispers low, _Thou must_,
The youth replies, _I can_.
R. W. EMERSON.
Know that "impossible," where truth and mercy and the everlasting voice of
nature order, has no place in the brave man's dictionary. That when all men
have said "Impossible," and tumbled noisily elsewhither, and thou alone art
left, then first thy time and possibility have come. It is for thee now: do
thou that, and ask no man's counsel, but thy own only and God's. Brother,
thou hast possibility in thee for much: the possibility of writing on the
eternal skies the record of a heroic life.
T. CARLYLE.
In the moral world there is nothing impossible, if we bring a thorough will
to it. Man can do everything with himself; but he must not attempt to do
too much with others.
WM. VON HUMBOLDT.
August 8
_Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage_.--GAL. v. i.
_I believed, and therefore have I spoken_.--2 COR. iv. 13.
They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak;
They are slaves who will not choose
Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,
Rather than in silence shrink
From the truth they needs must think;
They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three.
J. R. LOWELL.
The real corrupters of society may be, not the corrupt, but those who have
held back the righteous leaven, the salt that has lost its savor, the
innocent who have not even the moral courage to show what they think of the
effrontery of impurity,--the serious, who yet timidly succumb before
some loud-voiced scoffer,--the heart trembling all over with religious
sensibilities that yet suffers itself through false shame to be beaten down
into outward and practical acquiescence by some rude and worldly nature.
J. H. THOM.
August 9
_The things which are impossible with men are possible with God_.--LUKE
xviii. 27.
_Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in
silence_.--PS. xciv. 17.
When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison-walls to be,
I do the little I can do,
And leave the rest to Thee.
F. W. FABER.
The mind never puts forth greater power over itself than when, in great
trials, it yields up calmly its desires, affections, interests to God.
There are seasons when to be _still_ demands immeasurably higher strength
than to act. Composure is often the highest result of power. Think you it
demands no power to calm the stormy elements of passion, to moderate the
vehemence of desire, to throw off the load of dejection, to suppress every
repining thought, when the dearest hopes are withered, and to turn the
wounded spirit from dangerous reveries and wasting grief, to the quiet
discharge of ordinary duties? Is there no power put forth, when a man,
stripped of his property, of the fruits of a life's labors, quells
discontent and gloomy forebodings, and serenely and patiently returns to
the tasks which Providence assigns?
WM. E. CHANNING.
August 10
_The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it_?--JOHN xviii.
11.
_Whatsoever is brought upon thee, take cheerfully_.--ECCLESIASTICUS ii. 4.
Every sorrow, every smart,
That the Eternal Father's heart
Hath appointed me of yore,
Or hath yet for me in store,
As my life flows on, I 'll take
Calmly, gladly, for His sake,
No more faithless murmurs make
P. GERHARDT.
The very least and the very greatest sorrows that God ever suffers to
befall thee, proceed from the depths of His unspeakable love; and such
great love were better for thee than the highest and best gifts besides
that He has given thee, or ever could give thee, if thou couldst but see it
in this light. So that if your little finger only aches, if you are cold,
if you are hungry or thirsty, if others vex you by their words or deeds, or
whatever happens to you that causes you distress or pain, it will all help
to fit you for a noble and blessed state.
J. TAULER.
AUGUST 11
_The Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou
puttest thine hand unto_.--DEUT. xv. 10.
My place of lowly service, too,
Beneath Thy sheltering wings I see;
For all the work I have to do
Is done through strengthening rest in Thee.
A. L. WARING.
I think I find most help in trying to look on all interruptions and
hindrances to work that one has planned out for oneself as discipline,
trials sent by God to help one against getting selfish over one's
work. Then one can feel that perhaps one's true work--one's work for
God--consists in doing some trifling haphazard thing that has been thrown
into one's day. It is not waste of time, as one is tempted to think, it
is the most important part of the work of the day,--the part one can best
offer to God. After such a hindrance, do not rush after the planned work;
trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet
heart about it.
ANNIE KEARY.
August 12
_Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life_?--LUKE x. 25.
_Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might_.--ECCLES. ix. 10.
"What shall I do to gain eternal life?"
"Discharge aright
The simple dues with which each day is rife,
Yea, with thy might."
F. VON SCHILLER.
A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work, and done
his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace.
R. W. EMERSON.
Be diligent, after thy power, to do deeds of love. Think nothing too
little, nothing too low, to do lovingly for the sake of God. Bear with
infirmities, ungentle tempers, contradictions; visit, if thou mayest, the
sick; relieve the poor; forego thyself and thine own ways for love; and He
whom in them thou lovest, to whom in them thou ministerest, will own thy
love, and will pour His own love into thee.
E. B. PUSEY.
August 13
_In your patience possess ye your souls_.--LUKE xxi. 19.
What though thy way be dark, and earth
With ceaseless care do cark, till mirth
To thee no sweet strain singeth;
Still hide thy life above, and still
Believe that God is love; fulfil
Whatever lot He bringeth.
ALBERT E. EVANS.
The soul loses command of itself when it is impatient. Whereas, when it
submits without a murmur it possesses itself in peace, and possesses God.
To be impatient, is to desire what we have not, or not to desire what we
have. When we acquiesce in an evil, it is no longer such. Why make a real
calamity of it by resistance? Peace does not dwell in outward things, but
within the soul. We may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain,
if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from
acquiescence even in disagreeable things, not in an exemption from bearing
them.
FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.
The chief pang of most trials is not so much the actual suffering itself,
as our own spirit of resistance to it.
JEAN NICOLAS GROU.
August 14
_I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help_.--PS.
cxxi. 1.
_My grace is sufficient for thee_.--2 COR. xii. 9.
I look to Thee in every need,
And never look in vain;
I feel Thy touch, Eternal Love,
And all is well again:
The thought of Thee is mightier far
Than sin and pain and sorrow are.
S. LONGFELLOW.
How can you live sweetly amid the vexatious things, the irritating things,
the multitude of little worries and frets, which lie all along your way,
and which you cannot evade? You cannot at present change your surroundings.
Whatever kind of life you are to live, must be lived amid precisely the
experiences in which you are now moving. Here you must win your victories
or suffer your defeats. No restlessness or discontent can change your lot.
Others may have other circumstances surrounding them, but here are yours.
You had better make up your mind to accept what you cannot alter. You can
live a beautiful life in the midst of your present circumstances.
J. R. MILLER.
Strive to realize a state of inward happiness, independent of
circumstances.
J. P. GREAVES.
August 15
_God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and
of a sound mind_.--2 TIM. i. 7.
We cast behind fear, sin, and death;
With Thee we seek the things above;
Our inmost souls Thy spirit breathe,
Of power, of calmness, and of love.
HYMNS OF THE SPIRIT.