Chapter 13

Let every man lovingly cast all his thoughts and cares, and his sins too, as it were, on the Will of God. Moreover, if a man, while busy in this lofty inward work, were called by some duty in the Providence of God to cease therefrom, and cook a broth for some sick person, or any other such service, he should do so willingly and with great joy. If I had to forsake such work, and go out to preach or aught else, I should go cheerfully, believing not only that God would be with me, but that he would vouchsafe me it may be even greater grace and blessing in that external work undertaken out of true love in the service of my neighbor, than I should perhaps receive in my season of loftiest contemplation.

JOHN TAULER.

September 18

_All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies_.--PS. xxv. 10.

Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth, Speak peace to my anxious soul, And help me to feel that all my ways Are under Thy wise control; That He who cares for the lily, And heeds the sparrows' fall, Shall tenderly lead His loving child: For He made and loveth all.

ANON.

It is not by seeking more fertile regions where toil is lighter--happier circumstances free from difficult complications and troublesome people--but by bringing the high courage of a devout soul, clear in principle and aim, to bear upon what is given to us, that we brighten our inward light, lead something of a true life, and introduce the kingdom of heaven into the midst of our earthly day. If we cannot work out the will of God where God has placed us, then why has He placed us there?

J. H. THOM.

September 19

_Pray for us unto the Lord thy God... that the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do_.--JER. xlii. 2, 3.

_That which I see not, teach Thou me_.--JOB xxxiv. 32.

O father, hear! The way is dark, and I would fain discern What steps to take, into which path to turn; Oh! make it clear.

CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER.

"We can't choose happiness either for ourselves or for another; we can't tell where that will lie. We can only choose whether we will indulge ourselves in the present moment, or whether we will renounce that, for the sake of obeying the Divine voice within us,--for the sake of being true to all the motives that sanctify our lives. I know this belief is hard; it has slipped away from me again and again; but I have felt that if I let it go forever, I should have no light through the darkness of this life."

GEORGE ELIOT.

There was a care on my mind so to pass my time, that nothing might hinder me from the most steady attention to the voice of the true Shepherd.

JOHN WOOLMAN.

September 20

_Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of man: Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues_.--PS. xxxi. 20.

The praying spirit breathe, The watching power impart, From all entanglements beneath Call off my anxious heart. My feeble mind sustain, By worldly thoughts oppressed; Appear, and bid me turn again To my eternal rest.

C. WESLEY.

As soon as we are with God in faith and in love, we are in prayer.

FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.

If you could once make up your mind in the fear of God never to undertake more work of any sort than you can carry on calmly, quietly, without hurry or flurry, and the instant you feel yourself growing nervous and like one out of breath, would stop and take breath, you would find this simple common-sense rule doing for you what no prayers or tears could ever accomplish.

ELIZABETH PRENTISS.

September 21

_How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings_.--PS. xxxvi. 7.

_The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms_.--DEUT. xxxiii. 27.

Within Thy circling arms we lie, O God! in Thy infinity: Our souls in quiet shall abide, Beset with love on every side.

ANON.

"The Everlasting Arms." I think of that whenever rest is sweet. How the whole earth and the strength of it, that is almightiness, is beneath every tired creature to give it rest; _holding_ us, always! No thought of God is closer than that. No human tenderness of patience is greater than that which gathers in its arms a little child, and holds it, heedless of weariness. And He fills the great earth, and all upon it, with this unseen force of His love, that never forgets or exhausts itself, so that everywhere we may lie down in His bosom, and be comforted.

A. D. T. WHITNEY.

September 22

_The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it_.--DEUT. xxx. 14.

But, above all, the victory is most sure For him, who, seeking faith by virtue, strives To yield entire obedience to the Law Of Conscience; Conscience reverenced and obeyed, As God's most intimate presence in the soul, And His most perfect image in the world.

W. WORDSWORTH.

What we call Conscience is the voice of Divine love in the deep of our being, desiring union with our will; and which, by attracting the affections inward, invites them to enter into the harmonious contentment, and "fulness of joy" which attends the being joined by "one spirit to the Lord."

J. P. GREAVES.

I rejoice that God has bestowed upon you a relish and inclination for the inner life. To be called to this precious and lofty life is a great and undeserved grace of God, to which we ought to respond with great faithfulness. God invites us to His fellowship of love, and wishes to prepare our spirit to be His own abode and temple.

GERHARD TERSTEEGEN.

September 23

_Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths_--PS. xxv. 4.

When we cannot see our way, Let us trust and still obey; He who bids us forward go, Cannot fail the way to show. Though the sea be deep and wide, Though a passage seem denied; Fearless let us still proceed, Since the Lord vouchsafes to lead.

ANON.

That which is often asked of God, is not so much His will and way, as His approval of our way.

S. F. SMILEY.

There is nothing like the first glance we get at duty, before there has been any special pleading of our affections or inclinations. Duty is never uncertain at first. It is only after we have got involved in the mazes and sophistries of wishing that things were otherwise than they are, that it seems indistinct. Considering a duty is often only explaining it away. Deliberation is often only dishonesty. God's guidance is plain, when we are true.

F. W, ROBERTSON.

September 24

_When I awake, I am still with Thee_.--PS. cxxxix. 18.

Let the glow of love destroy Cold obedience faintly given; Wake our hearts to strength and joy With the flushing eastern heaven.

C. K. VON ROSENROTH.

With his first waking consciousness, he can set himself to take a serious, manly view of the day before him. He ought to know pretty well on what lines his difficulty is likely to come, whether in being irritable, or domineering, or sharp in his bargains, or self-absorbed, or whatever it be; and now, in this quiet hour, he can take a good, full look at his enemy, and make up his mind to beat him. It is a good time, too, for giving his thoughts a range quite beyond himself,--beyond even his own moral struggles,--a good time, there in the stillness, for going into the realm of other lives. His wife,--what needs has she for help, for sympathy, that he can meet? His children,--how can he make the day sweeter to them? This acquaintance, who is having a hard time; this friend, who dropped a word to you yesterday that you hardly noticed in your hurry, but that comes up to you now, revealing in him some finer trait, some deeper hunger, than you had guessed before,--now you can think these things over.

G. S. MERRIAM.

September 25

_Ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee_.--DEUT. xii. 7.

Sweet is the smile of home; the mutual look When hearts are of each other sure; Sweet all the joys that crowd the household nook, The haunt of all affections pure.

J. KEBLE.

Is there any tie which absence has loosened, or which the wear and tear of every-day intercourse, little uncongenialities, unconfessed misunderstandings, have fretted into the heart, until it bears something of the nature of a fetter? Any cup at our home-table whose sweetness we have not fully tasted, although it might yet make of our daily bread a continual feast? Let us reckon up these treasures while they are still ours, in thankfulness to God.

ELIZABETH CHARLES.

We ought daily or weekly to dedicate a little time to the reckoning up of the virtues of our belongings,--wife, children, friends,--contemplating them then in a beautiful collection. And we should do so now, that we may not pardon and love in vain and too late, after the beloved one has been taken away from us to a better world.

JEAN PAUL RICHTER.

September 26

_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me_.--PS. xxiii. 4.

O will, that wiliest good alone, Lead Thou the way, Thou guides! best; A silent child, I follow on, And trusting lean upon Thy breast. And if in gloom I see Thee not, I lean upon Thy love unknown; In me Thy blessed will is wrought, If I will nothing of my own.

GERHARD TERSTEEGEN.

The devout soul is always safe in every state, if it makes everything an occasion either of rising up, or falling down into the hands of God, and exercising faith, and trust, and resignation to Him. The pious soul, that eyes only God, that means nothing but being His alone, can have no stop put to its progress; light and darkness equally assist him: in the light he looks up to God, in the darkness he lays hold on God, and so they both do him the same good.

WM. LAW.

September 27

_When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me_.--MICAH vii. 8.

_There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us_.--PS. iv. 6.

How oft a gleam of glory sent Straight through the deepest, darkest night, Has filled the soul with heavenly light, With holy peace and sweet content.

ANON.

Suppose you are bewildered and know not what is right nor what is true. Can you not cease to regard whether you do or not, whether you be bewildered, whether you be happy? Cannot you utterly and perfectly love, and rejoice to be in the dark, and gloom-beset, because that very thing is the fact of God's Infinite Being as it is to you? Cannot you take this trial also into your own heart, and be ignorant, not because you are obliged, but because that being God's will, it is yours also? Do you not see that a person who truly loves is one with the Infinite Being--cannot be uncomfortable or unhappy? It is that which is that he wills and desires and holds best of all to be. To know God is utterly to sacrifice self.

JAMES HINTON.

September 28

_My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed, and in truth_.--I JOHN iii. 18.

_But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves_.--JAMES i. 22.

Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers, Whose loves in higher love endure; What souls possess themselves so pure, Or is there blessedness like theirs?

A. TENNYSON.

Let every creature have your love. Love, with its fruits of meekness, patience, and humility, is all that we can wish for to ourselves, and our fellow-creatures; for this is to live in God, united to Him, both for time and eternity. To desire to communicate good to every creature, in the degree we can, and it is capable of receiving from us, is a divine temper; for thus God stands unchangeably disposed towards the whole creation.

WM. LAW.

What shall be our reward for loving our neighbor as ourselves in this life? That, when we become angels, we shall be enabled to love him better than ourselves.

E. SWEDENBORG.

September 29

_Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God_.--MATT. v. 8.

_Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord_.--HEB. xii. 14.

Since Thou Thyself dost still display Unto the pure in heart, Oh, make us children of the day To know Thee as Thou art. For Thou art light and life and love; And Thy redeemed below May see Thee as Thy saints above, And know Thee as they know.

J. MONTGOMERY.

Doubt, gloom, impatience, have been expelled; joy has taken their place, the hope of heaven and the harmony of a pure heart, the triumph of self-mastery, sober thoughts, and a contented mind. How can charity towards all men fail to follow, being the mere affectionateness of innocence and peace? Thus the Spirit of God creates in us the simplicity and warmth of heart which children have, nay, rather the perfections of His heavenly hosts, high and low being joined together in His mysterious work; for what are implicit trust, ardent love, abiding purity, but the mind both of little children and of the adoring seraphim!

J. H. NEWMAN.

September 30

_Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart_.--PS. xv. 1, 2.

How happy is he born or taught, That serveth not another's will, Whose armor is his honest thought, And simple truth his utmost skill.

H. WOTTON.

If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason, seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure as if thou shouldest be bound to give it back immediately,--if thou boldest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.

MARCUS ANTONINUS.

October 1

_Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts_.--HAGGAI ii. 4,

Yet the world is Thy field, Thy garden; On earth art Thou still at home. When Thou bendest hither Thy hallowing eye, My narrow work-room seems vast and high, Its dingy ceiling a rainbow-dome,-- Stand ever thus at my wide-swung door, And toil will be toil no more.

L. LARCOM.

The situation that has not its duty, its ideal, was never yet occupied by man. Yes, here, in this poor, miserable, hampered, despicable Actual, wherein thou even now standest, here or nowhere is thy Ideal: work it out therefrom; and working, believe, live, be free. Fool! the Ideal is in thyself, the impediment too is in thyself: thy condition is but the stuff thou art to shape that same Ideal out of: what matters whether such stuff be of this sort or that, so the form thou givest it be heroic, be poetic. O thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom wherein to rule and create, know this of a truth: the thing thou seekest is already with thee, "here or nowhere," couldst thou only see!

T. CARLYLE.

October 2

_I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress_.--PS. xvii. 3.

_In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise_.--PROV. x. 19.

Prune thou thy words; the thoughts control That o'er thee swell and throng; They will condense within thy soul, And change to purpose strong.

J. H. NEWMAN.

Few men suspect how much mere talk fritters away spiritual energy,--that which should be spent in action, spends itself in words. Hence he who restrains that love of talk, lays up a fund of spiritual strength.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

Do not flatter yourself that your thoughts are under due control, your desires properly regulated, or your dispositions subject as they should be to Christian principle, if your intercourse with others consists mainly of frivolous gossip, impertinent anecdotes, speculations on the character and affairs of your neighbors, the repetition of former conversations, or a discussion of the current petty scandal of society; much less, if you allow yourself in careless exaggeration on all these points, and that grievous inattention to exact truth, which is apt to attend the statements of those whose conversation is made up of these materials.

H. WARE, JR.

October 3

_Judge not, that ye be not judged_.--MATT. vii. 1.

_Why beboldest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye_?--LUKE vi. 41.

Judge not; the workings of his brain And of his heart thou canst not see; What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, In God's pure light may only be A scar, brought from some well-won field, Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER.

When you behold an aspect for whose constant gloom and frown you cannot account, whose unvarying cloud exasperates you by its apparent causelessness, be sure that there is a canker somewhere, and a canker not the less deeply corroding because concealed.

CHARLOTTE BRONTE.

While we are coldly discussing a man's career, sneering at his mistakes, blaming his rashness, and labelling his opinions--"Evangelical and narrow," or "Latitudinarian and Pantheistic," or "Anglican and supercilious"--that man, in his solitude, is perhaps shedding hot tears because his sacrifice is a hard one, because strength and patience are failing him to speak the difficult word, and do the difficult deed.

GEORGE ELIOT.

October 4

_Be strong, and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest_.--JOSH. i. 9.

By Thine unerring Spirit led, We shall not in the desert stray; We shall not full direction need, Nor miss our providential way; As far from danger as from fear, While love, almighty love, is near.

CHARLES WESLEY.

Watch your way then, as a cautious traveller; and don't be gazing at that mountain or river in the distance, and saying, "How shall I ever get over them?" but keep to the present _little inch_ that is before you, and accomplish _that_ in the little moment that belongs to it. The mountain and the river can only be passed in the same way; and, when you come to them, you will come to the light and strength that belong to them.

M. A. KELTY.

Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which thou now usest for present things.

MARCUS ANTONINUS.

October 5

_Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not_.--ISA. xxxv. 4.

Why shouldst them fill to-day with sorrow About to-morrow, My heart? One watches all with care most true, Doubt not that He will give thee too Thy part.

PAUL FLEMMING.

The crosses which we make for ourselves by a restless anxiety as to the future, are not crosses which come from God. We show want of faith in Him by our false wisdom, wishing to forestall His arrangements, and struggling to supplement His Providence by our own providence. The future is not yet ours; perhaps it never will be. If it comes, it may come wholly different from what we have foreseen. Let us shut our eyes, then, to that which God hides from us, and keeps in reserve in the treasures of His deep counsels. Let us worship without seeing; let us be silent; let us abide in peace.

FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.

October 6

_I had fainted, unless I bad believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living_--PS. xxvii. 13.

_I will surely do thee good_.--GEN. xxxii. 12.

Thou know'st not what is good for thee, But God doth know,-- Let Him thy strong reliance be, And rest thee so.

C. F. GELLERT.

Let us be very careful of thinking, on the one hand, that we have no work assigned us to do, or, on the other hand, that what we have assigned to us is not the right thing for us. If ever we can say in our hearts to God, in reference to any daily duty, "This is not my place; I would choose something dearer; I am capable of something higher;" we are guilty not only of rebellion, but of blasphemy. It is equivalent to saying, not only, "My heart revolts against Thy commands," but "Thy commands are unwise; Thine Almighty guidance is unskilful; Thine omniscient eye has mistaken the capacities of Thy creature; Thine infinite love is indifferent to the welfare of Thy child."

ELIZABETH CHARLES.

October 7

_And because ye are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father_.--GAL. iv. 6.

O Lord, forgive my sin, And deign to put within A calm, obedient heart, a patient mind; That I may murmur not, Though bitter seem my lot; For hearts unthankful can no blessing find.

M. RUTILIUS, 1604.

Resignation to the Divine Will signifies a cheerful approbation and thankful acceptance of everything that comes from God. It is not enough patiently to submit, but we must thankfully receive and fully approve of everything that, by the order of God's providence, happens to us. For there is no reason why we should be patient, but what is as good and as strong a reason why we should be thankful. Whenever, therefore, you find yourself disposed to uneasiness or murmuring at any thing that is the effect of God's providence over you, you must look upon yourself as denying either the wisdom or goodness of God.

WM. LAW.

October 8

_Ye shall not go out in haste, for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward_.--ISA. lii. 12. (R. V.).

_He that believeth shall not make haste_.--ISA. xxviii. 16.

Holy Spirit, Peace divine! Still this restless heart of mine; Speak to calm this tossing sea, Stayed in Thy tranquillity.

S. LONGFELLOW.

In whatever you are called upon to do, endeavor to maintain a calm, collected, and prayerful state of mind. Self-recollection is of great importance. "It is good for a man to quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." He who is in what may be called a spiritual hurry, or rather who runs without having evidence of being spiritually sent, makes haste to no purpose.

T. C. UPHAM.

There is great fret and worry in always running after work; it is not good intellectually or spiritually.

ANNIE KEARY.

Whenever we are outwardly excited we should cease to act; but whenever we have a message from the spirit within, we should execute it with calmness. A fine day may excite one to act, but it is much better that we act from the calm spirit in any day, be the outward what it may.

J. P. GREAVES.

October 9

_As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord_.--JOSH. xxiv. 15.

O happy house I and happy servitude! Where all alike one Master own; Where daily duty, in Thy strength pursued, Is never hard or toilsome known; Where each one serves Thee, meek and lowly, Whatever Thine appointment be, Till common tasks seem great and holy, When they are done as unto Thee.

C. J. P. SPITTA.