Yes! blessed are those holy hours in which the soul retires from the world
to be alone with God. God's voice, as Himself, is everywhere. Within and
without, He speaks to our souls, if we would hear. Only the din of the
world, or the tumult of our own hearts, deafens our inward ear to it.
Learn to commune with Him in stillness, and He, whom thou hast sought in
stillness, will be with thee when thou goest abroad.
E. B. PUSEY.
The great step and direct path to the fear and awful reverence of God, is
to meditate, and with a sedate and silent hush to turn the eyes of the mind
inwards; there to seek, and with a submissive spirit wait at the gates of
Wisdom's temple; and then the Divine Voice and Distinguishing Power will
arise in the light and centre of a man's self.
THOMAS TRYON.
December 8
_Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings_.--EPH. i. 3.
_As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing_.--2 COR. vi. 10.
It is not happiness I seek,
Its name I hardly dare to speak;
It is not made for man or earth,
And Heaven alone can give it birth.
There is a something sweet and pure,
Through life, through death it may endure;
With steady foot I onward press,
And long to win that Blessedness.
LOUISA J. HALL.
The elements of _happiness_ in this present life no man can command, even
if he could command himself, for they depend on the action of many wills,
on the purity of many hearts, and by the highest law of God the holiest
must ever bear the sins and sorrows of the rest; but over the _blessedness_
of his own spirit circumstance need have no control; God has therein given
an unlimited power to the means of preservation, of grace and growth, at
every man's command.
J. H. THOM.
There is in man a higher than love of happiness: he can do without
happiness, and instead thereof find blessedness!
T. CARLYLE.
December 9
_For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou
mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come
nigh unto him_.--PS. xxxii. 6.
Be not o'ermastered by thy pain,
But cling to God, thou shall not fall;
The floods sweep over thee in vain,
Thou yet shall rise above them all;
For when thy trial seems too hard to bear,
Lo! God, thy King, hath granted all thy prayer:
Be thou content.
P. GERHARDT.
It is the Lord's mercy, to give thee breathings after life, and cries unto
Him against that which oppresseth thee; and happy wilt thou be, when He
shall fill thy soul with that which He hath given thee to breathe after. Be
not troubled; for if troubles abound, and there be tossing, and storms,
and tempests, and no peace, nor anything visible left to support; yet, lie
still, and sink beneath, till a secret hope stir, which will stay the heart
in the midst of all these; until the Lord administer comfort, who knows how
and what relief to give to the weary traveller, that knows not where it is,
nor which way to look, nor where to expect a path.
I. PENINGTON.
December 10
_Behold, we count them happy which endure_.--JAMES v. 11.
_If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons_.--HEB. xii. 7.
Trials must and will befall;
But with humble faith to see
Love inscribed upon them all,
This is happiness to me.
W. COWPER.
Be not afraid of those trials which God may see fit to send upon thee. It
is with the wind and storm of tribulation that God separates the true wheat
from the chaff. Always remember, therefore, that God comes to thee in thy
sorrows, as really as in thy joys. He lays low, and He builds up. Thou wilt
find thyself far from perfection, if thou dost not find God in everything.
M. DE MOLINOS.
God hath provided a sweet and quiet life for His children, could they
improve and use it; a calm and firm conviction in all the storms and
troubles that are about them, however things go, to find content, and be
careful for nothing.
R. LEIGHTON.
December 11
_Oh, that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and that Thine hand might be
with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve
me_!--I CHRON. iv. 10.
_Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread and thy
water_.--EX. xxiii. 25.
What I possess, or what I crave,
Brings no content, great God, to me,
If what I would, or what I have,
Be not possest, and blest, in Thee;
What I enjoy, O make it mine,
In making me that have it, Thine.
J. QUARLES.
Offer up to God all pure affections, desires, regrets, and all the bonds
which link us to home, kindred, and friends, together with all our works,
purposes, and labors. These things, which are not only lawful, but sacred,
become then the matter of thanksgiving and oblation. Memories, plans for
the future, wishes, intentions; works just begun, half done, all but
completed; emotions, sympathies, affections,--all these things throng
tumultuously and dangerously in the heart and will. The only way to master
them is to offer them up to Him, as once ours, under Him, always His by
right.
H. E. MANNING.
December 12
_I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart_.--PS.
xl. 8.
A patient, a victorious mind,
That life and all things casts behind,
Springs forth obedient to Thy call;
A heart that no desire can move,
But still to adore, believe, and love,
Give me, my Lord, my Life, my All.
P. GERHARDT.
That piety which sanctifies us, and which is a true devotion to God,
consists in doing all His will precisely at the time, in the situation, and
under the circumstances, in which He has placed us. Perfect devotedness
requires, not only that we do the will of God, but that we do it with love.
God would have us serve Him with delight; it is our hearts that He asks of
us.
FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.
Devotion is really neither more nor less than a general inclination and
readiness to do that which we know to be acceptable to God. It is that
"free spirit," of which David spoke when he said, "I will run the way
of Thy commandments, when Thou hast set my heart at liberty." People of
ordinary goodness walk in God's way, but the devout run in it, and at
length they almost fly therein. To be truly devout, we must not only do
God's will, but we must do it cheerfully.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.
December 13
_So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom_.--PS. xc. 12.
_Seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of
doubtful mind_.--LUKE xii. 29.
Our days are numbered: let us spare
Our anxious hearts a needless care:
'T is Thine to number out our days;
'T is ours to give them to Thy praise.
MADAME GUYON.
Every day let us renew the consecration to God's service; every day let
us, in His strength, pledge ourselves afresh to do His will, even in the
veriest trifle, and to turn aside from anything that may displease Him.
He does not bid us bear the burdens of tomorrow, next week, or next year.
Every day we are to come to Him in simple obedience and faith, asking
help to keep us, and aid us through that day's work; and to-morrow, and
to-morrow, and to-morrow, through years of long to-morrows, it will be but
the same thing to do; leaving the future always in God's hands, sure that
He can care for it better than we. Blessed trust! that can thus confidingly
say, "This hour is mine with its present duty; the next is God's, and when
it comes, His presence will come with it."
W. R. HUNTINCTON.
December 14
_And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy,
and upon the Israel of God_.--GAL. vi. 16.
Lord, I have given my life to Thee,
And every day and hour is Thine,--
What Thou appointest let them be;
Thy will is better, Lord, than mine.
A. WARNER.
Begin at once; before you venture away from this quiet moment, ask your
King to take you wholly into His service, and place all the hours of this
day quite simply at His disposal, and ask Him to make and keep you _ready_
to do just exactly what He appoints. Never mind about to-morrow; one day
at a time is enough. Try it to-day, and see if it is not a day of strange,
almost curious peace, so sweet that you will be only too thankful, when
to-morrow comes, to ask Him to take it also,--till it will become a
blessed habit to hold yourself simply and "wholly at Thy commandment for
_any_ manner of service." The "whatsoever" is not necessarily active work.
It may be waiting (whether half an hour or half a life-time), learning,
suffering, sitting still. But shall we be less ready for these, if any of
them are His appointments for to-day? Let us ask Him to prepare us for all
that He is preparing for us.
F. R. HAVERGAL.
December 15
_Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with
thee_.--PS. cxvi. 7.
_We which have believed do enter into rest_.--HEB. iv. 3.
Rest is not quitting
The busy career;
Rest is the fitting
Of self to its sphere.
'T is loving and serving
The highest and best!
'T is onwards, unswerving,--
And that is true rest.
J. S. DWIGHT.
As a result of this strong faith, the inner life of Catherine of Genoa
was characterized, in a remarkable degree, by what may be termed rest, or
quietude; which is only another form of expression for true interior peace.
It was not, however, the quietude of a lazy inaction, but the quietude
of an inward acquiescence; not a quietude which feels nothing and does
nothing, but that higher and divine quietude which exists by feeling and
acting in the time and degree of God's appointment and God's will. It was a
principle in her conduct, to give herself to God in the discharge of duty;
and to leave all results without solicitude in His hands.
T. C. UPHAM.
December 16
_Thou understandest my thought afar off_.--PS. cxxxix. 2.
_Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults_.--PS.
xix. 12.
My newest griefs to Thee are old;
My last transgression of Thy law,
Though wrapped in thought's most secret fold,
Thine eyes with pitying sadness saw.
H. M. KIMBALL.
Lord our God, great, eternal, wonderful in glory, who keepest covenant and
promises for those that love Thee with their whole heart, who art the Life
of all, the Help of those that flee unto Thee, the Hope of those who cry
unto Thee, cleanse us from our sins, secret and open, and from every
thought displeasing to Thy goodness,--cleanse our bodies and souls, our
hearts and consciences, that with a pure heart, and a clear soul, with
perfect love and calm hope, we may venture confidently and fearlessly to
pray unto Thee. Amen.
COPTIC LITURGY OF ST. BASIL.
The dominion of any sinful habit will fearfully estrange us from His
presence. A single consenting act of inward disobedience in thought or will
is enough to let fall a cloud between Him and us, and to leave our hearts
cheerless and dark.
H. E. MANNING.
December 17
_The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance_.--GAL. v. 22, 23.
_Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my
disciples_.--JOHN xv. 8.
O Breath from out the Eternal Silence! blow
Softly upon our spirits' barren ground;
The precious fulness of our God bestow,
That fruits of faith, love, reverence may abound.
G. TERSTEEGEN.
Is it possible we should be ignorant whether we feel tempers contrary to
love or no?--whether we rejoice always, or are burdened and bowed down with
sorrow?--whether we have a praying, or a dead, lifeless spirit?--whether
we can praise God, and be resigned in all trials, or feel murmurings,
fretfulness, and impatience under them?--is it not easy to know if we
feel anger at provocations, or whether we feel our tempers mild, gentle,
peaceable, and easy to be entreated, or feel stubbornness, self-will, and
pride? whether we have slavish fears, or are possessed of that perfect love
which casteth out all fear that hath torment?
HESTER ANN ROGERS.
December 18
_We trust in the living God_.--I TIM. iv. 10.
Thy secret judgment's depths profound
Still sings the silent night;
The day, upon his golden round,
Thy pity infinite.
I. WILLIAMS. _Tr. from Latin_.
Now that I have no longer any sense for the transitory and perishable, the
universe appears before my eyes under a transformed aspect. The dead, heavy
mass which did but stop up space has vanished, and in its place there flows
onward, with the rushing music of mighty waves, an eternal stream of
life, and power, and action, which issues from the original source of all
life,--from Thy life, O Infinite One! for all life is Thy life, and only
the religious eye penetrates to the realm of true Beauty.
J. G. FICHTE.
What is Nature? Art thou not the "Living Garment" of God? O Heavens, is it,
in very deed, He then that ever speaks through thee; that lives and
loves in thee, that lives and loves in me? Sweeter than dayspring to the
shipwrecked in Nova Zembla; ah! like the mother's voice to her little child
that strays bewildered, weeping, in unknown tumults; like soft streamings
of celestial music to my too exasperated heart, came that Evangel. The
Universe is not dead and demoniacal, a charnel-house with spectres; but
godlike, and my Father's.
T. CARLYLE.
December 19
_And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee_.--PS. xxxix. 7.
_O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee_.--ISA. xxxiii. 2.
He never comes too late;
He knoweth what is best;
Vex not thyself in vain;
Until He cometh, rest.
B. T.
We make mistakes, or what we call such. The nature that could fall into
such mistake exactly needs, and in the goodness of the dear God is given,
the living of it out, And beyond this, I believe more. That in the pure
and patient living of it out we come to find that we have fallen, not into
hopeless confusion of our own wild, ignorant making; but that the finger
of God has been at work among our lines, and that the emerging is into His
blessed order; that He is forever making up for us our own undoings; that
He makes them up beforehand; that He evermore restoreth our souls.
A. D. T. WHITNEY.
THE Lord knows how to make stepping-stones for us of our defects, even;
it is what He lets them be for. He remembereth--He remembered in the
making--that we are but dust; the dust of earth, that He _chose_ to make
something little lower than the angels out of.
A. D. T. WHITNEY.
December 20
_Take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in
that same hour what ye shall speak_.--MATT. x. 19.
Just to follow hour by hour
As He leadeth;
Just to draw the moment's power
As it needeth.
F. R. HAVERGAL.
You have a disagreeable duty to do at twelve o'clock. Do not blacken nine,
and ten, and eleven, and all between, with the color of twelve. Do the work
of each, and reap your reward in peace. So when the dreaded moment in the
future becomes the present, you shall meet it walking in the light, and
that light will overcome its darkness. The best preparation is the present
well seen to, the last duty done. For this will keep the eye so clear and
the body so full of light that the right action will be perceived at once,
the right words will rush from the heart to the lips, and the man, full of
the Spirit of God because he cares for nothing but the will of God, will
trample on the evil thing in love, and be sent, it may be, in a chariot
of fire to the presence of his Father, or stand unmoved amid the cruel
mockings of the men he loves.
G. MACDONALD.
December 21
_Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the
Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth
strength_.--ISA. xl. 28, 29.
Workman of God! oh, lose not heart,
But learn what God is like;
And in the darkest battle-field
Thou shall know where to strike.
F. W. FABER.
For the rest, let that vain struggle to read the mystery of the Infinite
cease to harass us. It is a mystery which, through all ages, we shall only
read here a line of, there another line of. Do we not already know that the
name of the Infinite is GOOD, is GOD? Here on earth we are as soldiers,
fighting in a foreign land, that understand not the plan of the campaign,
and have no need to understand it; seeing well what is at our hand to be
done. Let us do it like soldiers, with submission, with courage, with a
heroic joy. Behind us, behind each one of us, lie six thousand years of
human, effort, human conquest: before us is the boundless Time, with its as
yet uncreated and unconquered continents and Eldorados, which we, even we,
have to conquer, to create; and from the bosom of Eternity there shine for
us celestial guiding stars.
T. CARLYLE.
December 22
_I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob,
and I will look for Him_.--ISA. viii. 17.
What heart can comprehend Thy name,
Or, searching, find Thee out?
Who art within, a quickening flame,
A presence round about.
Yet though I know Thee but in part,
I ask not, Lord, for more:
Enough for me to know Thou art,
To love Thee and adore.
F. L. HOSMER.
Stand up, O heart! and yield not one inch of thy rightful territory to the
usurping intellect. Hold fast to God in spite of logic, and yet not quite
blindly. Be not torn from thy grasp upon the skirts of His garments by any
wrench of atheistic hypothesis that seeks only to hurl thee into utter
darkness; but refuse not to let thy hands be gently unclasped by that
loving and pious philosophy that seeks to draw thee from the feet of God
only to place thee in His bosom. Trustfully, though tremblingly, let go the
robe, and thou shalt rest upon the heart and clasp the very living soul of
God.
JAMES HINTON.
December 23
_Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ_.--2
TIM. ii. 3.
Where our Captain bids us go,
'T is not ours to murmur, "No,"
He that gives the sword and shield,
Chooses too the battle-field
On which we are to fight the foe.
ANON.
Of nothing may we be more sure than this; that, if we cannot sanctify our
present lot, we could sanctify no other. Our heaven and our Almighty Father
are there or nowhere. The obstructions of that lot are given for us to
heave away by the concurrent touch of a holy spirit, and labor of strenuous
will; its gloom, for us to tint with some celestial light; its mysteries
are for our worship; its sorrows for our trust; its perils for our courage;
its temptations for our faith. Soldiers of the cross, it is not for us, but
for our Leader and our Lord, to choose the field; it is ours, taking the
station which He assigns, to make it the field of truth and honor, though
it be the field of death.
J. MARTINEAU.
December 24
_Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light_.--COL. i. 12.
The souls most precious to us here
May from this home have fled;
But still we make one household dear;
One Lord is still our head.
Midst cherubim and seraphim
They mind their Lord's affairs;
Oh! if we bring our work to Him
Our work is one with theirs.
T. H. GILL.
We are apt to feel as if nothing we could do on earth bears a relation to
what the good are doing in a higher world; but it is not so. Heaven and
earth are not so far apart. Every disinterested act, every sacrifice
to duty, every exertion for the good of "one of the least of Christ's
brethren," every new insight into God's works, every new impulse given to
the love of truth and goodness, associates us with the departed, brings
us nearer to them, and is as truly heavenly as if we were acting, not on
earth, but in heaven. The spiritual tie between us and the departed is not
felt as it should be. Our union with them daily grows stronger, if we daily
make progress in what they are growing in.
WM. E. CHANNING.
December 25
_That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled
with all the fulness of God_.--EPH. iii. 17-19.
O love that passeth knowledge, thee I need;
Pour in the heavenly sunshine; fill my heart;
Scatter the cloud, the doubting, and the dread,--
The joy unspeakable to me impart.
H. BONAR.
To examine its evidence is not to try Christianity; to admire its martyrs
is not to try Christianity; to compare and estimate its teachers is not to
try Christianity; to attend its rites and services with more than Mahometan
punctuality is not to try or know Christianity. But for one week, for one
day, to have lived in the pure atmosphere of faith and love to God, of
tenderness to man; to have beheld earth annihilated, and heaven opened
to the prophetic gaze of hope; to have seen evermore revealed behind the
complicated troubles of this strange, mysterious life, the unchanged smile
of an eternal Friend, and everything that is difficult to reason solved by
that reposing trust which is higher and better than reason,--to have known
and felt this, I will not say for a _life_, but for a single blessed hour,
_that_, indeed, is to have made experiment of Christianity.
WM. ARCHER BUTLER.
December 26
_The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus_.--PHIL. iv. 7.
_Let the peace of God rule in your hearts_.--COL. iii. 15.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
J. G. WHITTIER.
"These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." What is
fulness of joy but _peace_? Joy is tumultuous only when it is not full; but
peace is the privilege of those who are "filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." "Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."
It is peace, springing from trust and innocence, and then overflowing in
love towards all around him.
J. H. NEWMAN.
THROUGH the spirit of Divine Love let the violent, obstinate powers of
thy nature be quieted, the hardness of thy affections softened, and thine
intractable self-will subdued; and as often as anything contrary stirs
within thee, immediately sink into the blessed Ocean of meekness and love.
G. TERSTEEGEN.
December 27
_Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an
heir of God through Christ_.--GAL. iv. 7.
Not by the terrors of a slave
God's sons perform His will,
But with the noblest powers they have
His sweet commands fulfil.
ISAAC WATTS.
Our thoughts, good or bad, are not in our command, but every one of us has
at all hours duties to _do_, and these he can do negligently, like a
slave, or faithfully, like a true servant. "_Do_ the duty that is nearest
thee"--that first, and that well; all the rest will disclose themselves
with increasing clearness, and make their successive demand. Were your
duties never so small, I advise you, set yourself with double and treble
energy and punctuality, to do them, hour after hour, day after day.
T. CARLYLE.
Whatever we are, high or lowly, learned or unlearned, married or single, in
a full house or alone, charged with many affairs or dwelling in quietness,
we have our daily round of work, our duties of affection, obedience, love,
mercy, industry, and the like; and that which makes one man to differ from
another is not so much what things he does, as his manner of doing them.
H. E. MANNING.
December 28
_Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work, to do His will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus
Christ_.--HEB. xiii. 20, 21.
_Be ready to every good work_.--TITUS iii. I.
So, firm in steadfast hope, in thought secure,
In full accord to all Thy world of joy,
May I be nerved to labors high and pure,
And Thou Thy child to do Thy work employ.
J. STERLING.
Be with God in thy outward works, refer them to Him, offer them to Him,
seek to do them in Him and for Him, and He will be with thee in them, and
they shall not hinder, but rather invite His presence in thy soul. Seek to
see Him in all things, and in all things He will come nigh to thee.
E. B. PUSEY.
Nothing less than the majesty of God, and the powers of the world to come,
can maintain the peace and sanctity of our homes, the order and serenity of
our minds, the spirit of patience and tender mercy in our hearts. Then will
even the merest drudgery of duty cease to humble us, when we transfigure it
by the glory of our own spirit.
J. MARTINEAU.
December 29