Chapter 3

O Lord, Thou knowest what is best for us; let this or that be done, as Thou shalt please. Give what Thou wilt, and how much Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt. Deal with me as Thou thinkest good. Set me where Thou wilt, and deal with me in all things just as Thou wilt. Behold, I am Thy servant, prepared for all things: for I desire not to live unto myself, but unto Thee; and oh, that I could do it worthily and perfectly!

THOMAS À KEMPIS.

Dare to look up to God, and say, "Make use of me for the future as Thou wilt. I am of the same mind; I am one with Thee. I refuse nothing which seems good to Thee. Lead me whither Thou wilt, clothe me in whatever dress Thou wilt. Is it Thy will that I should be in a public or a private condition, dwell here, or be banished, be poor or rich? Under all these circumstances, I will testify unto Thee before men."

EPICTETUS.

February 14

_I would have you without carefulness_.--I COR. vii. 32.

O Lord, how happy should we be If we could cast our care on Thee, If we from self could rest; And feel at heart that One above, In perfect wisdom, perfect love, Is working for the best.

J. ANSTICE.

Cast all thy care on God. See that all thy cares be such as thou canst cast on God, and then hold none back. Never brood over thyself; never stop short in thyself; but cast thy whole self, even this very care which distresseth thee, upon God. Be not anxious about little things, if thou wouldst learn to trust God with thine all. Act upon faith in little things; commit thy daily cares and anxieties to Him; and He will strengthen thy faith for any greater trials. Rather, give thy whole self into God's hands, and so trust Him to take care of thee in all lesser things, as being His, for His own sake, whose thou art.

E. B. PUSEY.

February 15

_If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well_.--JAMES ii. 8.

Come, children, let us go! We travel hand in hand; Each in his brother finds his joy In this wild stranger land. The strong be quick to raise The weaker when they fall; Let love and peace and patience bloom In ready help for all.

G. TERSTEEGEN.

It is a sad weakness in us, after all, that the thought of a man's death hallows him anew to us; as if life were not sacred too,--as if it were comparatively a light thing to fail in love and reverence to the brother who has to climb the whole toilsome steep with us, and all our tears and tenderness were due to the one who is spared that hard journey.

GEORGE ELIOT.

Would we codify the laws that should reign in households, and whose daily transgression annoys and mortifies us, and degrades our household life,--we must learn to adorn every day with sacrifices. Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices. Temperance, courage, love, are made up of the same jewels. Listen to every prompting of honor.

R. W. EMERSON.

February 16

_Serve Him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind_.--I CHRON. xxviii. 9.

And if some things I do not ask, In my cup of blessing be, I would have my spirit filled the more With grateful love to Thee,-- More careful,--not to serve Thee much, But to please Thee perfectly.

A. L. WARING.

Little things come daily, hourly, within our reach, and they are not less calculated to set forward our growth in holiness, than are the greater occasions which occur but rarely. Moreover, fidelity in trifles, and an earnest seeking to please God in little matters, is a test of real devotion and love. Let your aim be to please our dear Lord perfectly in little things, and to attain a spirit of childlike simplicity and dependence. In proportion as self-love and self-confidence are weakened, and our will bowed to that of God, so will hindrances disappear, the internal troubles and contests which harassed the soul vanish, and it will be filled with peace and tranquillity.

JEAN NICOLAS GROU.

February 17

_My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations [or "trials"], knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience_.--JAMES i. 2, 3.

For patience, when the rough winds blow! For patience, when our hopes are fading,-- When visible things all backward go, And nowhere seems the power of aiding! God still enfolds thee with His viewless hand, And leads thee surely to the Fatherland.

N. L. FROTHINGHAM, _from the German_.

We have need of patience with ourselves and with others; with those below, and those above us, and with our own equals; with those who love us and those who love us not; for the greatest things and for the least; against sudden inroads of trouble, and under our daily burdens; disappointments as to the weather, or the breaking of the heart; in the weariness of the body, or the wearing of the soul; in our own failure of duty, or others' failure toward us; in every-day wants, or in the aching of sickness or the decay of age; in disappointment, bereavement, losses, injuries, reproaches; in heaviness of the heart; or its sickness amid delayed hopes. In all these things, from childhood's little troubles to the martyr's sufferings, patience is the grace of God, whereby we endure evil for the love of God.

E. B. PUSEY.

February 18

_It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes_.--PS. cxix. 71.

_But though He cause grief yet will He have compassion, according to the multitude of His mercies_.--LAM. iii. 32.

And yet these days of dreariness are sent us from above; They do not come in anger, but in faithfulness and love; They come to teach us lessons which bright ones could not yield, And to leave us blest and thankful when their purpose is fulfilled.

ANON.

Heed not distressing thoughts when they rise ever so strongly in thee; nay, though they have entered thee, fear them not, but be still awhile, not believing in the power which thou feelest they have over thee, and it will fall on a sudden. It is good for thy spirit, and greatly to thy advantage, to be much and variously exercised by the Lord. Thou dost not know what the Lord hath already done, and what He is yet doing for thee therein.

I. PENINGTON.

Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop.

S. RUTHERFORD.

February 19

_My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work_.--JOHN iv. 34.

I am glad to think I am not bound to make the world go right; But only to discover and to do, With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints. I will trust in Him, That He can hold His own; and I will take His will, above the work He sendeth me, To be my chiefest good.

J. INGELOW.

Don't object that your duties are so insignificant; they are to be reckoned of infinite significance, and alone important to you. Were it but the more perfect regulation of your apartments, the sorting-away of your clothes and trinkets, the arranging of your papers,--"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, _do it_ with all thy might," and all thy worth and constancy. Much more, if your duties are of evidently higher, wider scope; if you have brothers, sisters, a father, a mother, weigh earnestly what claim does lie upon you, on behalf of each, and consider it as the one thing needful, to pay _them_ more and more honestly and nobly what you owe. What matter how miserable one is, if one can do that? That is the sure and steady disconnection and extinction of whatsoever miseries one has in this world.

T. CARLYLE.

February 20

_Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block, or an occasion to fall, in his brother's way_.--ROM. xiv. 13.

_Them that were entering in, ye hindered_.--LUKE xi. 52.

My mind was ruffled with small cares to-day, And I said pettish words, and did not keep Long-suffering patience well, and now how deep My trouble for this sin! in vain I weep For foolish words I never can unsay.

H. S. SUTTON.

A vexation arises, and our expressions of impatience hinder others from taking it patiently. Disappointment, ailment, or even weather depresses us; and our look or tone of depression hinders others from maintaining a cheerful and thankful spirit. We say an unkind thing, and another is hindered in learning the holy lesson of charity that thinketh no evil. We say a provoking thing, and our sister or brother is hindered in that day's effort to be meek. How sadly, too, we may hinder without word or act! For wrong feeling is more infectious than wrong doing; especially the various phases of ill temper,--gloominess, touchiness, discontent, irritability,--do we not know how catching these are?

F. R. HAVERGAL.

February 21

_If ye then, being evil, know bow to give good gifts unto your children, bow much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good gifts to them that ask Him_?--MATT. vii. 11.

For His great love has compassed Our nature, and our need We know not; but He knoweth, And He will bless indeed. Therefore, O heavenly Father, Give what is best to me; And take the wants unanswered, As offerings made to Thee.

ANON.

Whatsoever we ask which is not for our good, He will keep it back from us. And surely in this there is no less of love than in the granting what we desire as we ought. Will not the same love which prompts you to give a good, prompt you to keep back an evil, thing? If, in our blindness, not knowing what to ask, we pray for things which would turn in our hands to sorrow and death, will not our Father, out of His very love, deny us? How awful would be our lot, if our wishes should straightway pass into realities; if we were endowed with a power to bring about all that we desire; if the inclinations of our will were followed by fulfilment of our hasty wishes, and sudden longings were always granted. One day we shall bless Him, not more for what He has granted than for what He has denied.

H. E. MANNING.

February 22

_Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God_.--PHIL. iv. 6.

We tell Thee of our care, Of the sore burden, pressing day by day, And in the light and pity of Thy face, The burden melts away.

We breathe our secret wish, The importunate longing which no man may see; We ask it humbly, or, more restful still, We leave it all to Thee.

SUSAN COOLIDGE.

That prayer which does not succeed in moderating our wish, in changing the passionate desire into still submission, the anxious, tumultuous expectation into silent surrender, is no true prayer, and proves that we have not the spirit of true prayer. That life is most holy in which there is least of petition and desire, and most of waiting upon God; that in which petition most often passes into thanksgiving. Pray till prayer makes you forget your own wish, and leave it or merge it in God's will. The Divine wisdom has given us prayer, not as a means whereby to obtain the good things of earth, but as a means whereby we learn to do without them; not as a means whereby we escape evil, but as a means whereby we become strong to meet it.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

February 23

_Let the Lord do that which is good in His sight_.--I CHRON. xix. 13.

_Let Thy mercy O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee_.--PS. XXXIII. 22.

I cannot feel That all is well, when darkening clouds conceal The shining sun; But then, I know He lives and loves; and say, since it is so, Thy will be done.

S. G. BROWNING.

No felt evil or defect becomes divine until it is inevitable; and only when resistence to it is exhausted and hope has fled, does surrender cease to be premature. The hardness of our task lies _here_; that we have to strive against the grievous things of life, while hope remains, as if they were evil; and then, when the stroke has fallen, to accept them from the hand of God, and doubt not they are good. But to the loving, trusting heart, all things are possible; and even this instant change, from overstrained will to sorrowful repose, from fullest resistance to complete surrender is realized without convulsion.

J. MARTINEAU.

February 24

_These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world_.--JOHN xvi. 33.

O Thou, the primal fount of life and peace, Who shedd'st Thy breathing quiet all around, In me command that pain and conflict cease, And turn to music every jarring sound.

J. STERLING.

Accustom yourself to unreasonableness and injustice. Abide in peace in the presence of God, who sees all these evils more clearly than you do, and who permits them. Be content with doing with calmness the little which depends upon yourself, and let all else be to you as if it were not.

FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.

It is rare when injustice, or slights patiently borne, do not leave the heart at the close of the day filled with marvellous joy and peace.

GOLD DUST.

February 25

_But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine_.--ISA. xliii. I.

Thou art as much His care as if beside Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth; Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide, To light up worlds, or wake an insect's mirth.

J. KEBLE.

God beholds thee individually, whoever thou art. "He calls thee by thy name." He sees thee, and understands thee. He knows what is in thee, all thy own peculiar feelings and thoughts, thy dispositions and likings, thy strength and thy weakness. He views thee in thy day of rejoicing and thy day of sorrow. He sympathizes in thy hopes and in thy temptations; He interests himself in all thy anxieties and thy remembrances, in all the risings and fallings of thy spirit. He compasses thee round, and bears thee in His arms; He takes thee up and sets thee down. Thou dost not love thyself better than He loves thee. Thou canst not shrink from pain more than He dislikes thy bearing it, and if He puts it on thee, it is as thou wilt put it on thyself, if thou art wise, for a greater good afterwards.

J. H. NEWMAN.

February 26

_The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth_.--PS. cxlv. 18.

_I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears_.--PS. xxxiv. 4.

Be Thou, O Rock of Ages, nigh! So shall each murmuring thought be gone; And grief and fear and care shall fly, As clouds before the mid-day sun.

C. WESLEY.

Take courage, and turn your troubles, which are without remedy, into material for spiritual progress. Often turn to our Lord, who is watching you, poor frail little being as you are, amid your labors and distractions. He sends you help, and blesses your affliction. This thought should enable you to bear your troubles patiently and gently, for love of Him who only allows you to be tried for your own good. Raise your heart continually to God, seek His aid, and let the foundation stone of your consolation be your happiness in being His. All vexations and annoyances will be comparatively unimportant while you know that you have such a Friend, such a Stay, such a Refuge. May God be ever in your heart.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.

February 27

_Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed_.--PS. xxxvii. 3.

Build a little fence of trust Around to-day; Fill the space with loving work, And therein stay; Look not through the sheltering bars Upon to-morrow, God will help thee bear what comes, Of joy or sorrow.

MARY FRANVES BUTTS.

Let us bow our souls and say, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord!" Let us lift up our hearts and ask, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" Then light from the opened heaven shall stream on our daily task, revealing the grains of gold, where yesterday all seemed dust; a hand shall sustain us and our daily burden, so that, smiling at yesterday's fears, we shall say, "_This is easy, this is light;_" every "lion in the way," as we come up to it, shall be seen chained, and leave open the gates of the Palace Beautiful; and to us, even to us, feeble and fluctuating as we are, ministries shall be assigned, and through our hands blessings shall be conveyed in which the spirits of just men made perfect might delight.

ELIZABETH CHARLES.

February 28

_Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God_.--I JOHN iv. 7.

So to the calmly gathered thought The innermost of life is taught, The mystery dimly understood, That love of God is love of good; That to be saved is only this,-- Salvation from our selfishness.

J. G. Whittler.

The Spirit of Love, wherever it is, is its own blessing and happiness, because it is the truth and reality of God in the soul; and therefore is in the same joy of life, and is the same good to itself everywhere and on every occasion. Would you know the blessing of all blessings? It is this God of Love dwelling in your soul, and killing every root of bitterness, which is the pain and torment of every earthly, selfish love. For all wants are satisfied, all disorders of nature are removed, no life is any longer a burden, every day is a day of peace, everything you meet becomes a help to you, because everything you see or do is all done in the sweet, gentle element of Love.

WM. LAW.

February 29

_Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings_.--MAL. iv. 2.

_O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me_.--PS. xliii. 3.

Open our eyes, thou Sun of life and gladness, That we may see that glorious world of Thine! It shines for us in vain, while drooping sadness Enfolds us here like mist; come, Power benign, Touch our chilled hearts with vernal smile, Our wintry course do Thou beguile, Nor by the wayside ruins let us mourn, Who have th' eternal towers for our appointed bourn.

J. KEBLE.

Because all those scattered rays of beauty and loveliness which we behold spread up and down over all the world, are only the emanations of that inexhausted light which is above; therefore should we love them all in that, and climb up always by those sunbeams unto the eternal Father of lights: we should look upon Him, and take from Him the pattern of our lives, and always eying Him, should, as Hierocles speaks, "polish and shape our souls into the clearest resemblance of Him;" and in all our behavior in this world (that great temple of His) deport ourselves decently and reverently, with that humility, meekness, and modesty that becomes His house.

DR. JOHN SMITH.

March 1

_Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on_.--MATT. vi. 25.

One there lives whose guardian eye Guides our earthly destiny; One there lives, who, Lord of all, Keeps His children lest they fall; Pass we, then, in love and praise, Trusting Him through all our days, Free from doubt and faithless sorrow,-- God provideth for the morrow.

R. HEBER.

It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when to-morrow's burden is added to the burden of to-day that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God's. He begs you to leave the future to Him, and mind the present.

G. MACDONALD.

_Cast thy burdens upon the Lord_,--hand it over, heave it upon Him,--_and He shall sustain thee_; shall bear both, if thou trust Him with both, both thee and thy burden: _He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved_.

ROBERT LEIGHTON.

March 2

_But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased_.--HEB. xiii. 16.

_For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another_.--I JOHN iii. 11.

Be useful where thou livest, that they may Both want and wish thy pleasing presence still. ...Find out men's wants and will, And meet them there. All worldly joys go less To the one joy of doing kindnesses.

G. HERBERT.

Let the weakest, let the humblest remember, that in his daily course he can, if he will, shed around him almost a heaven. Kindly words, sympathizing attentions, watchfulness against wounding men's sensitiveness,--these cost very little, but they are priceless in their value. Are they not almost the staple of our daily happiness? From hour to hour, from moment to moment, we are supported, blest, by small kindnesses.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

Small kindnesses, small courtesies, small considerations, habitually practised in our social intercourse, give a greater charm to the character than the display of great talents and accomplishments.

M. A. KELTY.

March 3

_I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandments_.--PS. cxix. 60.

_Ye know not what shall be on the morrow_.--JAMES iv. 14.

Never delay To do the duty which the hour brings, Whether it be in great or smaller things; For who doth know What he shall do the coming day?

ANON.

It is quite impossible that an idle, floating spirit can ever look up with clear eye to God; spreading its miserable anarchy before the symmetry of the creative Mind; in the midst of a disorderly being, that has neither centre nor circumference, kneeling beneath the glorious sky, that everywhere has both; and for a life that is _all_ failure, turning to the Lord of the silent stars, of whose punctual thought it is, that "not one faileth." The heavens, with their everlasting faithfulness, look down on no sadder contradiction, than the sluggard and the slattern in their prayers.

J. MARTINEAU.

March 4

_But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace_.--WISDOM OF SOLOMON iii. 1-3.

But souls that of His own good life partake, He loves as His own self; dear as His eye They are to Him: He 'll never them forsake: When they shall die, then God Himself shall die; They live, they live in blest eternity.

HENRY MORE.

Though every good man is not so logically subtile as to be able by fit mediums to demonstrate his own immortality, yet he sees it in a higher light: his soul, being purged and enlightened by true sanctity, is more capable of those divine irradiations, whereby it feels itself in conjunction with God. It knows that God will never forsake His own life which He hath quickened in it; He will never deny those ardent desires of a blissful fruition of Himself, which the lively sense of His own goodness hath excited within it: those breathings and gaspings after an eternal participation of Him are but the energy of His own breath within us; if He had had any mind to destroy it, He would never have shown it such things as He hath done.

DR. JOHN SMITH.

March 5

_And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure_.--I JOHN iii. 3.

Now, Lord, what wait I for? On Thee alone My hope is all rested,-- Lord, seal me Thine own! Only Thine own to be, Only to live to Thee. Thine, with each day begun, Thine, with each set of sun, Thine, till my work is done.

ANNA WARNER.