CHEER 
 BOOK 
 
 WBLL>S 
 
f:5 
 
 63 
 
a Cornell University 
 M Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92407840091 2 
 
**The best year book is a cheer book" 
 TKe CKeer BooK. A Story of Daily Optimism. 
 A quotation, verse or prose.fromdifferentauihors, 
 for each day of the year, i2mo, cloth, net, $i,oo 
 _ Professor Wells has an exceptional gift in touching every day 
 life. Finding that his own experience, as that of many others, 
 is that "worry is the ally of every other sin. leads directly to 
 many and adds fuel to all," he emphasizes the commandment 
 " Let not your heart be troubled " and sends forth these "heart 
 gleams of light " in the belief that they will scatter the dark- 
 ness of those struggling against moodiness and melancholy as 
 they have scattered his. 
 
 TKree Years -witK tHe CHildren. i2mo, 
 cloth, $1 25. 
 " The talk abounds in the happiest kind of illustrations from 
 the things of everyday life, which children will readily under- 
 stand, applied with aptness and skill." — Worcester SPy, 
 
 A Business Man's Keli^ion. i6mo, clo,£octs. 
 
 " Sympathetic, and abounds in helpful, practical suggestions 
 which encourage, stir up and promote better methods in doing 
 religious work.... Must do good wherever read,'* — United 
 Presbyteria n. 
 
 Sunda;y ScKool Success. l2mo, cloth, gilt 
 top, $1.25. 
 *' We shall publicly and privately urge every teacher and work- 
 er in America to purchase and study * Sunday School Success,' 
 for it will make success to take the place of failure." — Inter- 
 national Evangel. 
 
 'WHen TKo\a Hast SKvit THy Door. 
 
 Morning and Bvenicg Meditations for a Month. 
 ^d edition. Long i6mo. cloth, 50 cents, 
 
 Business. A Plain Talk with Men and Women 
 ^ho Work. i2mo, decorated boards, 30 cents. 
 
 Social Elvenin^s. A Collection of Entertain- 
 ments. i6mo, cloth, net, 35 cents. 
 
 NutsKell Musings t Counsels for the Quiet 
 Hour. iSmo, cloih, 25 cents. 
 
1^ M 
 
 CHEER BOOK 
 
 AM06 Ib.WE/LLS 
 
Copyright 1901 by 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 (September) 
 
Preface 
 
 t>ECAUSE worry is the ally of every other 
 sin, because it leads directly to many of 
 them and adds fuel to them all, I am in the 
 habit of considering the commandment, 
 " Let not your heart be troubled," as binding 
 as any in the Decalogue. And if good cheer 
 is a duty, it is certainly a possibility. A cap- 
 ital heresy against our Lord's sunshiny relig- 
 ion is the belief that one cannot control 
 one's feelings. That is a slander against our 
 Creator. It is virtually to assert that God 
 has given us control of our lower faculties, 
 our hands and feet and tongues of clay, so 
 that we can grasp and move and speak what 
 we will, but at the same time has placed be- 
 yond our control the only part of us that 
 abides forever, namely, our feelings. 
 
 For all who worry (and most of us come 
 within this category!) 1 present here a word 
 of cheer for every day of the shining year. 
 I do not promise that they will help one who 
 weakly acquiesces in his gloom; but I do 
 agree that if any soul is ashamed of his 
 5 
 
moodiness .and is struggling against his 
 melancholy, these heart gleams from lives of 
 light will often scatter his darkness, as they 
 have often scattered mine. 
 
 Some of the delightful bits of verse or 
 prose here included were found floating 
 anonymously among the waves of periodical 
 literature, and though I would gladly credit 
 them, 1 am unable to do so. None of them 
 are from my own pen ; the host has gathered 
 so bright a company that he does not venture 
 to intrude. For permission, most courteously 
 given, to make valued quotations, I am in- 
 debted to the following publishers, the 
 authors whose works they publish being 
 named in parentheses: Houghton, Mifflin & 
 Co., (Emerson, Lowell, Whittier, Aldrich, 
 Phoebe Gary, Lucy Larcom, Lloyd Mifflin); 
 Charles Scribner's Sons, (Sidney Lanier, Mary 
 Mapes Dodge, Holland, Van Dyke, Robert 
 Louis Stevenson); Lee & Shepard, (Sam 
 Walter Foss) ; American Tract Society, 
 (Mary D. Brine); Forbes & Co., (Ben King); 
 Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., (Sarah K. Bol- 
 ton); Small, Maynard & Co., (John B. Tabb). 
 
 Amos R. Wells. 
 
 Boston. 
 
January First. 
 
 "^EW mercies, new blessings, new light 
 
 on the way; 
 New courage, new hope, and new strength 
 
 for each day; 
 New wine in the chalice, new altars to raise; 
 New fruits for thy Master, new garments of 
 
 praise; 
 New gifts from His treasures, new smiles 
 
 from His face; 
 New streams from the fountain of infinite 
 
 grace; 
 New stars for thy crown, and new tokens of 
 
 love; 
 New gleams of the glory that waits thee 
 
 above; 
 New light of His countenance, full and un- 
 priced, — 
 All this be the joy of thy new year in Christ! 
 — Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 7 
 
January Second. 
 '^EVER despair; despair is the devil's sin. 
 But lie hath reason for it, for he is 
 condemned, and all doors of hope are eter- 
 nally shut upon him, or rather, none was 
 ever opened to him. But for a man that 
 hath God's long-suffering, forbearance, and 
 patience daily laid before him and laid out 
 upon him; that hath the door of grace set 
 open to him, and the Lord calling, entreat- 
 ing, promising acceptance on his coming, 
 for such a man to give over all hope is a sin 
 some way worse than the devil's; a frame 
 pleasing only to the devil, and most dis- 
 honoring to God and the Holy Ghost; a re- 
 flection on all the glorious appearances and 
 manifestations of the throne of grace, and 
 most surely damning if continued in. Away 
 with it speedily; conclude thy case is not 
 desperate; and, if you cannot shake it off, 
 come to the throne of grace and complain of 
 it. If you can but see the throne, and Him 
 that sits upon it, despair will vanish, as a 
 night owl, on the bright shining of the Sun 
 of Righteousness. — Traill. 
 
 8 
 
January Third. 
 
 npHERE are thousands so extravagant in their 
 ideas of contentment, as to imagine that 
 it must consist in having everything in this 
 world turn out the way they wish — that they 
 are to sit down in happiness, and feel them- 
 selves so at ease at all points, as to desire noth- 
 ing better and nothing more. I own there are 
 instances of some, who seem to pass through 
 the world as if all their paths had been strewed 
 with rosebuds of delight; — but a little experi- 
 ence will convince us, 'tis a fatal expectation to 
 go upon. We are born to trouble ; and, we may 
 depend upon it, whilst we live in this world we 
 shall have it, though with intermissions — that 
 is, in whatever state we are, we shall find a 
 mixture of good and evil; and therefore the 
 true way to contentment is to know how to 
 receive these certain vicissitudes of life, — the 
 returns of good and evil, so as neither to be ex- 
 alted by the one, nor overthrown by the other ; 
 but to bear ourselves towards everything 
 which happens with such ease and indiffer- 
 ence of mind, as to hazard as little as may 
 be. This is the true temperate climate fitted 
 for us by nature, and in which every wise 
 man would wish to live. — Laurence Sterne. 
 
 9 
 
January Fourth. 
 
 npHERE are blossoms that hae budded, been 
 
 blitched i' the cauld, 
 And lammies that hae perished, because they 
 
 left the fauld; 
 But cower ye in aneath His wing wha died 
 
 upon the tree, 
 An' gaithers in His bosom helpless weans 
 
 like you an' me. 
 In the warl there's tribulation, in the warl 
 
 there is wae; 
 But the warl it is bonnie, for our Father made 
 
 it sae; 
 Then brichten up yer armor, an' be happy 
 
 as ye gang. 
 Though your sky be aften clouded, it win'na 
 
 be for lang. 
 
 January Fifth. 
 
 pjOW we do love a little child that nestles 
 up to us from its cot in a dark room, 
 and kisses the hand that it cannot see, and 
 pours out all sorts of little confidences which 
 it did not tell in the broad daylight! Do we 
 not fondle it with a special gush of affection ? 
 However much we loved the little thing be- 
 
 10 
 
fore, we think we love it more than ever! 
 When the Father's little children come to 
 Him in the dark, and simply believe His as- 
 surance that He is there, although they can- 
 not see, will He be less loving, less kind and 
 tender ? — Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 
 January Sixth. 
 
 TJNWORLDLINESS is the spirit of holding 
 all things as not our own, in the per- 
 petual conviction that they will not last. It 
 is not to put life and God's lovely world 
 aside with self-torturing hand. It is to have 
 the world, and not to let the world have you; 
 to be its master and not its slave. To have 
 Christ hidden in the heart, calming all. 
 
 — Frederick William Robertson. 
 
 January Seventh. 
 ^HE truer life draws nigher 
 
 Every year. 
 And its morning star climbs higher 
 
 Every year. 
 Earth's hold on us grows slighter, 
 And the heavy burthen lighter, 
 And the dawn iinmortal brighter 
 Every year. 
 
 —Albert G. Pike 
 11 
 
January Eighth. 
 
 "ll^H Y then do we stumble at every straw ? 
 Why are we of doubtful minds ? 
 And why do thoughts arise in our hearts ? 
 It is time enough to be distrustful when we 
 have a want He cannot supply; a danger He 
 cannot prevent or remove; a disease He can- 
 not heal or mitigate; an enemy He cannot 
 overcome or reconcile; a Red Sea He cannot 
 dry up or divide; a wall He cannot throw 
 
 down or help us over. — From "An Infallible 
 Way to Contentment." {A. Z>., 1688.) 
 
 January Ninth. 
 
 ^RT thou alone, and does thy soul complain 
 
 It lives in vain ? 
 Not vainly does he live who can endure. 
 
 O be thou sure 
 That he who hopes and suffers here, can earn 
 
 A sure return. 
 
 — Adelaide A. Procter. 
 
 January Tenth. 
 
 A S you know more and more of the created 
 
 world, you will find that the true will 
 
 of its Maker is that its creatures should be 
 
 happy. . . . The Love of God exists, and 
 
 12 
 
you may see it, and live in it, if you will. . . . 
 A spirit does actually exist which teaches the 
 ant her path, the bird her building, and men, in 
 an instinctive and marvellous way, whatever 
 lovely arts and noble deeds are possible to 
 them. Without it you can do no good thing. 
 To the grief of it you can do many bad ones. 
 In the possession of it is your peace and 
 your power. . . . Therefore I pray you with 
 all earnestness to prove, and know within 
 your hearts, that all things lovely and righteous 
 are possible for those who believe in their 
 possibility, and who determine that, for their 
 part, they will make every day's work con- 
 tribute to them. — John Ruskin. 
 
 January Eleventh. 
 
 r) ETTER to weave in the web of life 
 
 A bright and golden filling. 
 And do God's will with a cheerful heart. 
 And hands that are ready and willing. 
 Than to snap the delicate, minute thread 
 
 Of our curious lives asunder, 
 And then blame heaven for tangled ends. 
 And sit and grieve and wonder. 
 
 — Charles Mackay. 
 
 13 
 
January Twelfth. 
 
 TF thou workest at that which is before 
 thee, following right reason seriously, 
 vigorously, calmly, without allowing any- 
 thing else to distract thee, but keeping thy 
 divine part pure, as if thou shouldst be 
 bound to give it back immediately ; if thou 
 boldest to this, expecting nothing, fearing 
 nothing, but satisfied with thy present ac- 
 tivity 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 Aurelius Antoninus. 
 
 January Thirteenth. 
 
 "^l/'HEN the bounding beat of the heart of 
 love 
 And the springing step grow slow; 
 When the form of a cloud in the blue above 
 Lies dark on the path below, 
 The song that he sings is lost in a sigh. 
 
 But he turns where a Star is dawning, 
 And he thinks, as it gladdens his heart and 
 and his eye, 
 " It will be all right in the morning! " 
 
 — Benjamin F. Taylor. 
 
 14 
 
January Fourteenth. 
 T AM glad there is no everlastingness in the 
 world, and that I know it. 1 am glad the 
 world is only for a season, for me and my 
 fellow-spirits to be in. It makes me feel 
 myself. Do we not know that chambers are 
 furnished, and are beautified with gold and 
 silk, for princes to lodge one night in, — the 
 very shortness of the use being the greatness 
 of the honor ? And so, because this beautiful 
 earth is only for so short a time, I am sure of 
 what must be my own royalty. 
 
 — From "EutAanasy." 
 
 January Fifteenth. 
 
 T IFT up your head at last, as being free 
 from slavery. 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. 1 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 circum- 
 stances 1 will testify unto Thee before men." 
 
 — EPICTETUS. 
 15 
 
January Sixteenth. 
 
 T IFT up your hearts. Life's inner spring 
 
 A sudden flow of peace may bring; 
 Trust all to God; 'tis there we find 
 A world perplexing left behind. 
 The heart upraised its Lord to meet 
 Drops every burden at His feet. 
 
 — Mrs. D. R. H. Goodale. 
 
 January Seventeenth. 
 
 /^OD gives everybody, I think, a cross, 
 when he enters upon a Christian life. 
 When it comes into his hands, what is it? 
 It is the rude oak, four square, full of splinters 
 and slivers, and rudely tacked together. 1 see 
 some men carrying their cross just as rude as 
 it was at first. Others, I perceive, begin to 
 wind about it faith and hope and patience, 
 and at last their cross has been so covered 
 with holy affections that it does not seem 
 any more to be a cross. They carry it so 
 easily, and are so much more strengthened 
 than burdened by it, that men almost forget 
 that it is a cross, by the triumph with which 
 they carry it. Carry your cross in such a 
 way that there shall be victory in it. 
 
 — Henry Ward Beecher. 
 16 
 
January Eighteenth. 
 
 FAON'T be sorry, mo'ners, when de night 
 come down: 
 Worl' is mighty full er sin en sorrer; 
 But a little star's a-peepin' — des a-peepin' all 
 
 aroun'; 
 Somewhar de day's a-breakin', en de bells er 
 glory soun'. 
 En de birds '11 all be singin' on ter-morrer! 
 
 — Atlanta Constitution, 
 
 January Nineteenth. 
 
 ''TpIS better to laugh than to cry, dear — 
 A proverb you'll grant me is true — 
 'Tis best to forget to be sad, dear; 
 The heartsease is better than rue. 
 
 'Tis best to be glad for what is, dear. 
 Than to sigh for the things which are not. 
 
 'Tis braver to reckon the joys, dear. 
 Than the trouble that falls to your lot. 
 
 'Tis more to be good than be great, dear; 
 
 To be happy is better than wise; 
 You'll find if you smile at the world, dear, 
 
 The world will smile back in your eyes. 
 17 
 
January Twentieth. 
 A ND hey! for the cheer the old men raise, 
 
 How it thrills the heart I— 
 " There is nought to fear, and the way is clear 
 
 As at the start. 
 The harvest comes at the summer's end: 
 
 Have we lost the flowers ? 
 But golden wheat is our guerdon now 
 And restful hours." 
 
 — Marianne Farningham. 
 
 January Twenty-Jirst. 
 
 TV/TAN being small, being petty at the king- 
 liest, finds a flaw. Thus the wise fool 
 talks: "He is honest, he is wise, he is 
 gifted; he is, on the whole, a man of notable 
 intellectual stature and influence; but." Man 
 thinks he is clever when he discovers a bit. 
 He gathers himself up into Pharisaic perpen- 
 dicularity, and says: "I discovered that, I 
 pointed out that frailty, 1 saw it." There 
 can be no pit deep enough for a wretch like 
 that. How doth God speak? Thus; hear 
 the music of infinite love: "He has gone 
 astray, he has been unfaithful, he has turned 
 aside from me a thousand times, he has done 
 the things he ought not to have done; yet." 
 
 18 
 
That is the difference between human judg- 
 ment and divine judgment in relation to that 
 greatest of all mysteries, human character. 
 It is better to fall into the hands of God than 
 into the hands of men. 
 
 —Joseph Parker, D. D. 
 
 January Twenty-second. 
 "pJOW many smiles there could be 
 
 If folks would always say, 
 "Good-morning, neighbor, let me give 
 
 A helping hand to-day ! " 
 How many smiles there will be, 
 
 My friend, when you and I 
 Have learned to practice what we wish 
 These other folks would try ! 
 
 — ^JoHN F. Trowbridge. 
 
 January Twenty-third. 
 
 TJNSHAKEN in our faith and zeal, 
 
 'Tis ours to do and dare. 
 To find the place we best can fill. 
 
 And serve our Maker there; 
 For he is only brave who thus 
 
 Puts trouble on the shelf. 
 And trusts in God, for by His aid 
 The Right will right itself. 
 
 — ^Josephine Pollard. 
 
 19 
 
January Twenty-fourth. 
 
 TN one of Schiller's poems a beautiful story 
 is told to this effect. When God made 
 the birds He gave them gorgeous plumage 
 and sweet voices, but no wings. He laid 
 wings on the ground and said, " Take these 
 burdens and bear them." They struggled 
 along with them, folding them over their 
 hearts. Presently the wings grew fast to 
 their breasts, and spread themselves out, and 
 then they found that what they had thought 
 were burdens were changed to pinions. 
 
 — Arthur T. Pierson, D. D. 
 
 January Twenty- fifth. 
 
 "pROM any burden which God may see fit to 
 lay upon us our life may gain, not only 
 contentment, but grandeur and nobleness. 
 My strength during all my life has been pre- 
 cisely this — that I have no choice. During 
 the last thirty-six years God has twelve times 
 changed my home, and fifteen times changed 
 my work. I have scarcely done what I myself 
 would have chosen. The support of my life 
 is to know that I am doing what God wishes, 
 and not what 1 wish myself. 
 
 —Frederick W. Farrar, D. D. 
 
 20 
 
,sW"'"-- 
 
 j!©: 
 
 January Twenty-sixth. 
 /^HERISH this as sacred writ: 
 ^ "Laugh a little bit." 
 Keep it with you, sample it: 
 " Laugh a little bit." 
 Little ills will sure betide you, 
 Fortune may not sit beside you, 
 Men may mock andrFame deride you, 
 But you'll mind them not a whit 
 If you laugh a little bit. 
 
 January Twenty-seventh. 
 TX7E sleep in peace in the arms of God, 
 when we yield ourselves up to His 
 providence, in a delightful consciousness of 
 His tender mercies; no more restless un- 
 certainties, no more anxious desires, no more 
 impatience at the place we are in; for it is 
 God who has put us there, and who holds us 
 in His arms. Can we be unsafe where He 
 has placed us, and where He watches over us 
 as a parent watches a child ? This confiding 
 repose, in which earthly care sleeps, is the 
 true vigilance of the heart; yielding itself up 
 to God, with no other support than Him, it 
 thus watches while we sleep. This is the 
 love of Him, that will not sleep even in death. 
 — Francis Fenelon. 
 
 21 
 
January Twenty-eighth. 
 
 T ET me go where'er I will, 
 
 I hear a sky-born music still. 
 It sounds from all things old. 
 It sounds from all things young; 
 From all that's fair, from all that's foul. 
 Peals out a cheerful song. 
 It is not only in the rose. 
 It is not only in the bird. 
 Not only where the rainbow glows. 
 Nor in the song of woman heard; 
 But in the darkest, meanest things 
 There alway, alway something sings. 
 'Tis not in the high stars alone, 
 Nor in the cups of budding flowers. 
 Nor in the redbreast's mellow tone, 
 
 j Nor in the bow that smiles in showers; 
 
 \ But in the mud and skum of things 
 , \There alway, alway something sings. 
 
 M — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 
 January Twenty-ninth. 
 
 jyjARK GUY PEARSE had just finished a 
 sermon on Christ's yoke, and why it 
 is so light, when a man came up to him and 
 added to the preacher's list of reasons the 
 following better one. "You see," said he, 
 
 22 
 
" when I was a boy at home I used to drive 
 the oxen in my father's yoiie. And the yolte 
 was never made to balance, sir. Father's 
 yokes were always made heavier on one side 
 than the other. Then, you see, we would 
 put a weak bullock in alongside of a strong 
 bullock, and the light end would come on 
 the weak bullock because the stronger one 
 had the heavier part of it on his shoulder." 
 Then the man's face lit up as he said: "That 
 is why the yoke is easy and the burden is 
 light — because the Lord's yoke is made after 
 the same pattern, and the heavy end is upon 
 His shoulder." 
 
 January Thirtieth. 
 
 INTO every life some shadows will fall. 
 
 But heaven sends the sunshine of love; 
 Through the rifts in the clouds we may, if 
 we will, 
 See the beautiful blue above. 
 
 Then let us hope on, though the way be long 
 And the darkness be gathering fast; 
 
 For the turn in the road is a little way on 
 Where the home lights will greet us at last. 
 
 23 
 
January Thirty-first. 
 
 T THINK we are too ready with complaint 
 In this fair world of God's. Had we no 
 hope 
 Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope 
 Of yon gray bank of sky, we might be faint 
 To muse upon eternity's constraint 
 Round our aspirant souls. But since the 
 
 scope 
 Must widen early, is it well to droop 
 For a few days consumed in loss and taint ? 
 O pusillanimous Heart, be comforted,— 
 
 And, like a cheerful traveller, take the road 
 Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread 
 
 Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod 
 To meet the flints } — At least it may be said, 
 " Because the way is short, I thank Thee, 
 God!" 
 
 — Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 
 
 February First. 
 
 r^NE of the worst evils wrought by the sin 
 of discouragement is that we are tempted 
 to stop when we are just on the eve of realized 
 success, and almost in sight of the richest 
 blessings. Up near the summit of Mount 
 Washington I once saw a cairn of stones to 
 
 24 
 
mark the spot where a poor girl perished 
 from exposure and heart failure on a cold 
 night. Her father and she had rashly at- 
 tempted to ascend the mountain without a 
 guide (it was years ago), and they had 
 become lost, and sat down bewildered when 
 the chilling darkness of the autumnal night 
 came on. The next morning the distracted 
 father discovered that a very short distance 
 more would have brought him in sight of the 
 lights of the "Tip-top" cabin! 
 
 — Theodore L. Cuyler. D. D. 
 
 February Second. 
 
 'XXT'HAT wisdom more, what better life, 
 than pleaseth God to send ? 
 
 What worldly goods, what longer use, than 
 pleaseth God to lend ? 
 
 What better fare than well-content, agreeing 
 with thy wealth .? 
 
 What better guest than trusty friend, in sick- 
 ness and in health ? 
 
 What better bed than conscience good, to 
 pass the night with sleep ? 
 
 What better work than daily care from sin 
 thyself to keep } 
 
 — Thomas Tusser. 
 
 25 
 
February Third. 
 
 TV/TAKE yourselves nests of pleasant 
 thoughts. None of us yet know, for 
 none of us have been taught in early youth, 
 what fairy palaces we may build of beautiful 
 thoughts, proof against all adversity, — bright 
 fancies, satisfied memories, noble histories, 
 faithful sayings, treasure-houses of precious 
 and restful thoughts, which care cannot dis- 
 turb, nor pain make gloomy, nor poverty 
 take away from us, — houses built without 
 hands, for our souls to live in. 
 
 — ^JOHN RUSKIN. 
 
 February Fourth. 
 npHE Hand that binds the star 
 
 To its far centre, and around it rolls 
 Through space its worlds, with never halt nor 
 jar, 
 No less my steps controls. 
 
 That same unfailing Hand 
 
 Hath led me forth from still eternity; 
 'Twill guide me onward through star-vistas, 
 and 
 I follow trustingly. 
 
 — Henry Jerome Stockard. 
 
 26 
 
February Fifth. 
 COME murmur when their sky is clear 
 
 And wholly bright to view. 
 If one small speck of dark appear 
 
 In their great heaven of blue; 
 And some with thankful love are filled 
 
 If but one streak of light. 
 One ray of God's good mercy, gild 
 The darkness of their night. 
 
 — Richard Chenevix Trench. 
 
 February Sixth. 
 
 pjENCEFORTH then I will employ that 
 time I used to spend in disquieting 
 thoughts about the things that disturbed me, 
 in acts of love and praise, submission and 
 resignation, faith and confidence in God. 1 
 cannot want or abound, but from Thee, who 
 givest before Thou takest, and takest but 
 what Thou gavest. Give me what Thou 
 wilt, so Thou give me contentment with it. 
 Frame my heart to my estate, so shall 1 have 
 an estate to my heart; and not want when 1 
 have least, because as free from desire as 
 
 superfluity. — "An infallible Way to Contentment." 
 {i688.) 
 27 
 
February Seventh. 
 
 TLJOW will it be when the woods turn 
 
 brown, 
 Their gold and their crimson all dropped 
 
 down, 
 And crumbled to dust ? O, then as we lay 
 Our ear to Earth's lips, we shall hear her say, 
 " In the dark I am seeking new gems for my 
 
 crown." 
 We will dream of green leaves when the 
 
 woods turn brown. 
 
 — Lucy Larcom. 
 
 February Eighth. 
 npHE true felicity of life is to be free from 
 pertubations ; to understand our duties 
 towards God and man ; to enjoy the present 
 without any anxious dependence upon the 
 future. Not to amuse ourselves with either 
 hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what 
 we have, which is abundantly sufficient; for 
 he that is so, wants nothing. The great 
 blessings of mankind are within us, and 
 within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and, 
 like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the 
 very thing we search for without finding it. 
 
 — Seneca. 
 
 28 
 
February Ninth. 
 TN Hope, a Kynge doth goe to warre, 
 In Hope, a lover loves fulle longe. 
 In Hope, a merchant sailes from farre. 
 In Hope, good men doe suffer wronge. 
 In Hope, a farmer sowes his seed. 
 Thus Hope helps nations at their need: 
 Then fail not, heart, among the rest; 
 Whatever chance, hope thou the best. 
 
 February Tenth. 
 ■\17"E often suffer ourselves to be put out of 
 all our bearings by some misfortune, 
 not of the most serious kind, which certainly 
 looks very black at the time, but which from 
 its nature cannot be lasting. We are thus 
 like ignorant hens that insist upon going to 
 roost in midday because there is a brief tran- 
 sitory eclipse of the sun. — Arthur Helps. 
 
 February Eleventh. 
 V/TY motto is — Content with this. 
 
 Gold — place — 1 prize not such. 
 That which 1 have, my measure is; 
 
 Wise men desire not much. 
 Men wish and wish, and have their will. 
 And wish again as hungry still. 
 
 — George MacDonald, 
 
 39 
 
February Twelfth. 
 
 "XX^E'RE weary a-walking the Highway of 
 
 Life; 
 We're fretted and flustered with worry and 
 
 strife. 
 Let us drop by the wayside the heavy old load, 
 And rest at the inn at the turn of the road — 
 Let us tarry awhile 
 At the "Sign of the Smile." 
 
 Let us tarry awhile at the " Sign of the 
 
 Smile " — 
 Forget all our griefs in the joys that beguile; 
 Let us pleasure the noon till it changes to night, 
 Then up with our loads and we'll find they 
 are light — 
 Let us tarry awhile 
 At the " Sign of the Smile." 
 
 February Thirteenth. 
 
 'T^HE world is a looking-glass, and gives 
 back to every man the expression of 
 his own face. Frown at it, and it will in 
 turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and 
 with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion; 
 and so let all young persons take choice. 
 — William M. Thackeray. 
 
 30 
 
February Fourteenth. 
 t) LESSED be God, how all His word tells 
 us, "I will give you rest!" "Come 
 unto Me." Look at the freedom— ^?w; look 
 at the certainty — / will; look at the personal 
 application^^yoM. While we are looking at 
 unseen and eternal things, Christ, Christ only, 
 is our sole foundation. He will be with us 
 through the valley. He will receive us, when 
 it is passed through. He will present us 
 faultless to the Father. His blood. His right- 
 eousness, His Spirit, His image — these are 
 the glorious dress He gives. Let us day by 
 day put on Christ; so shall we be found 
 clothed with the garments of salvation. 
 
 — Rev. Edward Bickersteth. 
 
 February Fifteenth. 
 
 "D ISE ! if the Past detains you. 
 
 Her sunshine and storms forget; 
 No chains so unworthy to hold you 
 
 As those of a vain regret ; 
 Sad or bright, she is lifeless ever; 
 Cast her phantom arms away. 
 Nor look back, save to learn the lesson 
 Of a nobler strife To-day. 
 
 — Adelaide A. Procter. 
 
 31 
 
February Sixteenth. 
 
 ■\^HY cling to the past at such terrible 
 cost 
 In weakness and doubt? 
 Pray God to forget! Leave the days that are 
 lost. 
 Blot the yesterdays out! 
 Not the Judge but the Father shines out in His 
 face. 
 Are you glad ? He is more. 
 One more outlet for love, one more claimant 
 for grace, 
 And His heart, that before 
 Could not bless with a love which a wander- 
 ing soul 
 Could not answer or take. 
 Gives the love long restrained in a jubilant 
 whole. 
 And loves for love's sake. 
 
 — Mary Lowe Dickinson. 
 
 February Seventeenth. 
 
 T ET the rolling, trembling soul lie still, and 
 then God can best pour into it the sweet 
 waters of mercy, and the strong waters of 
 divine consolation. The still and quiet soul 
 is like a ship that lies still and quiet in the 
 
 32 
 
harbor; you may take in what goods you 
 please, whilst the ship lies quiet and still, so 
 when the soul is quiet and still under the hand 
 of God it is most fit to take in much of God, 
 of Christ, of heaven, of the promises, of the 
 ordinances and of the love of God, the smiles 
 of God, the communications and the counsel 
 of God; but when souls are unquiet, they are 
 like a ship in a storm — they can take in noth- 
 ing. Now, God dwells not in spirits that are 
 unquiet and in confusion, for they can take in 
 neither counsel nor comfort, grace nor peace. 
 — Thomas Brooks. 
 
 February Eighteenth. 
 npHERE is no place for complaint or repin- 
 ing under the sorrows and trials of life. 
 There is nothing in what has befallen, or be- 
 falls you, which justifies impatience or 
 peevishness. God is inscrutable, but not 
 wrong. Remember, if the cloud is over you, 
 that there is a bright light always on the 
 other side; also that the time is coming, 
 either in this world or the next, when that 
 cloud will be swept away, and the fullness of 
 God's light and wisdom poured around you. 
 — Horace Bushnell. 
 
February Nineteenth. 
 
 npEACH me, Master, to believe it, 
 
 And with) childlike faith receive it, 
 In its fullness and its sweetness, 
 In its richness and completeness — 
 
 The Lord, the King of Glory, 
 
 " He thinketh upon me." 
 
 Though the way be dark before me. 
 And the storm-cloud gather o'er me. 
 Evil never can betide me, 
 'Neath His shadow He will hide me; 
 
 The Lord, the King of Glory, 
 
 " He thinketh upon me." 
 
 — Jean H. Watson. 
 
 February Twentieth. 
 
 TDEAR in mind that your happiness or your 
 misery is very much of your own mak- 
 ing. You cannot create spiritual sunlight 
 any more than you can create the morning 
 star; but you can put your soul where Christ 
 is shining. Keep a clean conscience. Keep 
 a good stock of God's promises within reach. 
 Keep a nightingale of hope in your soul that 
 can sing away the dark hours when they do 
 come. Keep a good, robust faith that can 
 
 34 
 
draw honey out of the rock and oil out of 
 the flinty rock. Never spend a day without 
 trying to do somebody good; and then, keep- 
 ing step with your Master, march on towards 
 heaven, over any road, however rough, and 
 against any head-winds that blow. It will 
 be all sunshine when we get up there. 
 
 — Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D. 
 
 February Twenty-first. 
 
 T ET us serve God in the sunshine, while 
 He makes the sun shine. We shall then 
 serve Him all the better in the dark, when 
 He sends His darkness. It is sure to come. 
 Only let our light be God's light, and our 
 darkness God's darkness, and we shall be 
 safe at home when the great nightfall comes. 
 — Frederick W. Faber. 
 
 February Twenty-second. 
 /~\H, all that are sad, take heart again! 
 
 You are not alone in your hour of pain; 
 The Father stoops from His throne above 
 To soothe and comfort us with His love. 
 He leaves us not when the storm beats high, 
 And we have safety, for He is nigh. 
 Can it be trouble when He doth share } 
 Oh, rest in peace, for your Lord does carel 
 
 35 
 
February Twenty-third. 
 
 "Y'OU shall suffer, but you shall suffer with 
 inward peace and love. You shall fight, 
 but you shall gain the victory; the Lord Him- 
 self shall fight for you, and reward your 
 success. You shall weep, but God Himself 
 shall wipe the tears from your eyes. You 
 will be restrained from following your pas- 
 sions, but after a free sacrifice of your liberty 
 you will find another kind of liberty unknown 
 to the world and more valuable than univer- 
 sal empire. — Fenelon. 
 
 February Twenty-fourth. 
 
 A LL is of God! If He but wave His hand. 
 The mists collect, the rain falls thick 
 and loud, 
 Till, with a smile of light on sea and land, 
 Lo! He looks back from the departing 
 cloud. 
 Angels of life and death alike are His; 
 Without His leave they pass no threshold 
 o'er. 
 Who then would wish or dare, believing this, 
 Against His messenger to shut the door! 
 —James Russell Lowell. 
 
 36 
 
„.\VSi|ji7Wfc 
 
 February Twenty-fifth. 
 
 TT is not to taste sweet things, but to do 
 noble and true things, to vindicate him- 
 self under God's Heaven as a God-made Man, 
 that the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. 
 Shew him the way of doing that, the dullest 
 day-drudge kindles into a hero. They wrong 
 man greatly who say he is to be seduced by 
 ease. Difficulty, abnegation, martyrdom, 
 death, are the allurements that act on the 
 heart of man. — Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 February Twenty-Sixth. 
 
 A SINGER sang a song of tears. 
 
 And the great world heard and wept; 
 For he sang of the sorrows of fleeting years. 
 
 And the hopes which the dead past kept; 
 And the souls in anguish their burdens bore. 
 And the world was sadder than ever before. 
 
 A singer sang a song of cheer. 
 
 And the great world listened and smiled; 
 For he sang of the love of a Father dear. 
 
 And the trust of a little child; 
 And souls that before had forgotten to pray 
 Looked up and went singing along the way. 
 
 37 
 
February Twenty-seventh. 
 
 p\ID anybody ever say to himself, "1 have 
 some learning, some genius, some capac- 
 ity; but, after all, 1 glory in myself because 1 
 dwell in joy, in love, and in peace " ? Ah, 
 there is a higher notion of manhood and honor 
 and dignity than that which is bruited about 
 the streets among imperfect, quarrelling men; 
 and if once a man has learned to glory in this 
 higher notion, how free he is! Forbearance, 
 courage, toughness, endurance, the ability to 
 meet trouble and not be vanquished by it, 
 but tranquilly rejoice in it, are elements of 
 manhood. — Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 February Twenty-eighth. 
 
 ■pjE who hath led will lead 
 
 All through the wilderness; 
 He who hath fed will feed; 
 
 He who hath blessed will bless; 
 He who hath heard thy cry 
 
 Will never close His ear; 
 He who hath marked thy faintest sigh 
 
 Will not forget thy tear. 
 He loveth always, faileth never; 
 So rest on Him to-day, forever. 
 
 — Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 
 38 
 
February Twenty-ninth. 
 IV/TAN'S the elm, and wealth the vine; 
 
 Stanch and strong the tendrils twine: 
 Though the frail ringlets thee deceive, 
 None from its stock that vine can reave. 
 Fear not, then, thou child infirm, 
 There's no god dare wrong a worm. 
 Laurel crowns cleave to deserts, 
 And power to him who power exerts; 
 Hast not thy share .? On winged feet, 
 Lo! it rushes thee to meet; 
 And all that Nature made thy own, 
 Floating in air or pent in stone. 
 Will rive the hills and swim the sea, 
 And, like thy shadow, follow thee. 
 
 — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 
 March First. 
 TF there was nothing else to make men 
 wretched, uncertainty respecting their 
 future destines would be enough. . . . 
 There is no peace, there is no rest in the 
 prospect of eternity, unless there is some- 
 thing very much more than a guess that God 
 is loving us. There is an eternal law that 
 man cannot be happy except in keeping God's 
 commandments. — F. W. Roberston. 
 
 39 
 
March Second. 
 
 T LIKE the man who faces what he must 
 With step triumphant and a heart of 
 cheer; 
 Who fights the daily battle without fear; 
 Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust 
 That God is good; that somehow, true and 
 just, 
 His plans work out for mortals: not a tear 
 Is shed when fortune, which the world 
 holds dear. 
 Falls from his grasp: better, with love, a 
 
 crust. 
 Than living in dishonor: envies not, 
 
 Nor loses faith in man: but does his best 
 Nor ever murmurs at his humble lot. 
 But, with a smile and words of hope, gives 
 zest 
 To every toiler: he alone is great 
 Who by a life heroic conquers fate. 
 
 — Sarah Knowles Bolton. 
 
 March Third. 
 
 TXT'HEN a man has nothing more to lose, 
 
 when his hopes are all beyond the 
 
 grave, when we listen without terror to the 
 
 ebbings and flowings of the tide of life and 
 
 40 
 
the rush of its storms — then, after the night, 
 to us the day will come back, and after the 
 tempest a great calm. We know then it is 
 God's work, and that God loves us better 
 than we can love ourselves. We know then 
 that all our life is guided by Him, so that we 
 find consolation and contentment; and if we 
 have those two things with us — consolation 
 in all our sorrows and contentment in any 
 loss — we have the richest blessings which 
 God can give us. — Frederick W. Farrar. 
 
 March Fourth. 
 
 AS there are vast underground rivers in 
 many parts of the world, broader and 
 deeper and of more majestic sweep than any 
 Mississippi or Amazon, streams which men 
 may often tap and bring to the surface in 
 ever-flowing artesian wells, so there is an un- 
 dercurrent of happiness in this universe, and 
 if we connect our lives with it, our joy is per- 
 ennial; there shall be within us then a well of 
 water, springing up not only unto everlast- 
 ing life, but to everlasting happiness. This 
 undercurrent of happiness, or, rather, — let 
 us give it its nobler name, — of blessedness, 
 is God. — Francis E. Clark, D. D. 
 41 
 
March Fifth. 
 
 npHE beasts in the field are glad, and have 
 not wit 
 To know why leapt their hearts when 
 springtime shone. 
 Man looks at his own bliss, considers it. 
 Weighs it with curious fingers; and 'tis 
 gone. 
 
 —William Watson. 
 
 March Sixth. 
 
 'C'VERY moment think steadily as a Roman 
 and a man, to do what thou hast in hand 
 with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling 
 of affection, and freedom, and justice; and to 
 give thyself relief from all other thoughts. 
 And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou 
 doest every act of thy life as if it were the 
 last, laying aside all carelessness and passion- 
 ate aversion from the commands of reason,and 
 all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent 
 with the portion which has been given to 
 thee. Thou seest how few the things are, 
 the which if a man lays hold of, he is able 
 to live a life which flows in quiet, and is 
 like the existence of the gods. 
 
 — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. 
 
 42 
 
March Seventh. 
 
 '"pHY task may well seem over hard 
 
 Who scatterest in a thankless soil 
 Thy life as seed, with no reward 
 
 Save that which duty gives to toil. 
 Yet do thy work; it shall succeed 
 
 In thine or in another's day; 
 And if denied the victor's meed, 
 
 Thou shalt not lack the toiler's pay. 
 
 — John Greenleaf Whittier. 
 
 March Eighth. 
 
 "VIT'HO drives the horses of the sun 
 
 Shall lord it but a day; 
 Better the lowly deed were done. 
 And kept the humble way. 
 
 The rust will find the sword of fame, 
 The dust will hide the crown; 
 
 Ay, none shall nail so high his name 
 Time will not tear it down. 
 
 The happiest heart that ever beat 
 
 Was in some quiet breast 
 That found the common daylight sweet. 
 
 And left to heaven the rest. 
 
 —John Vance Cheney. 
 
 43 
 
March Ninth. 
 ]V/TY fear may make me miserable, but it 
 cannot prevent what another hath in 
 his power and purpose; and prosperities can 
 only be enjoyed by them who fear not at all 
 to lose them; since the amazement and pas- 
 sion concerning the future takes off all the 
 pleasure of the present possession. There- 
 fore, if thou hast lost thy land, do not also 
 lose thy constancy; and if thou must die a 
 little sooner, yet do not die impatiently. For 
 no chance is evil to him that is content: and 
 to a man nothing is miserable unless it be 
 unreasonable. No man can make another 
 man to be his slave unless he hath first en- 
 slaved himself to life and death, to pleasure 
 or pain, to hope or fear: command these 
 passions, and you are freer than the Parthian 
 kings. — Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 March Tenth. 
 
 V\/'E must remember that we are short- 
 sighted creatures. We are like an un- 
 skillful chess-player, who takes the next 
 piece, while a skillful one looks further. He, 
 who sees the end from the beginning, will 
 often appoint us a most inexplicable way to 
 
 44 
 
walk in. Joseph was put into the pit and 
 the dungeon; but this was the way which 
 led to the throne. We often want to know 
 too much and too soon. We want the light 
 of to-morrow, but it will not come till to- 
 morrow. And then a slight turn, perhaps, 
 will throw such light on our path, that we 
 shall be astonished we saw not our way be- 
 fore. "I can wait," says Lavater. This is a 
 high attainment. We must labor, therefore, 
 to be quiet in that path from which we can- 
 not recede without danger and evil. 
 
 — Rev. Richard Cecil. 
 
 March Eleventh. 
 
 "^OT first the glad and then the sorrow- 
 ■'■^ ful,— 
 
 But first the sorrowful, and then the glad ; 
 Tears for a day,— for earth of tears is full. 
 
 Then we forget that we were ever sad. 
 
 Not first the bright, and after that the dark, — 
 But first the dark, and after that the bright; 
 
 First the thick cloud, and then the rainbow's 
 arc. 
 First the dark grave, then resurrection-light. 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 45 
 
March Twelfth. 
 
 'T^HOU sweet, beloved will of God, 
 
 My anchor-ground and fortress-hill, 
 My spirit's silent, fair abode. 
 In thee I hide me and am still. 
 
 O will, that wiliest good alone. 
 Lead thou the way, thou guidest best; 
 
 A little child, I follow on, 
 And, trusting, lean upon thy breast. 
 
 — Madame Guyon. 
 
 March Thirteenth. 
 'TpHIS kingdom ! oh, that I had the tongue 
 of an angel, to represent it to you in 
 lively characters! This kingdom is large, 
 ample, great, and spacious ; it holds not only 
 all the blessed angels, but all the saints that 
 have lived since the foundation of the world, 
 and are like to be at the end of it. It is in- 
 finitely rich, it is infinitely safe, — safe beyond 
 all the castles and citadels in the world ; for 
 all the inhabitants are brethren, love one an- 
 other with a pure heart fervently, and are 
 everlastingly faithful one to another; so fear- 
 less are they, that the gates of this kingdom 
 stand open night and day. It is durable be- 
 yond rocks and marble, for it is incorruptible 
 
 46 
 
and fades not away. The queen of Sheba 
 counted Solomon's servants happy because 
 they lived in his house. What then must 
 the inhabitants of such a kingdom be, where 
 the King is the fountain, not only of honor, 
 but of all bliss and felicity, and the subjects 
 drink of that fountain — drink and never thirst 
 again ? — Anthony Horneck. 
 
 March Fourteenth. 
 TN the deepest night of trouble and sorrow 
 God gives us so much to be thankful for 
 that we need never cease our singing. With 
 all our wisdom and foresight we can take a 
 lesson in gladness and gratitude from the 
 happy bird that sings all night as if the day 
 were not long enough to tell its joy. 
 
 — Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 
 
 March Fifteenth. 
 
 TN brief, acquit thee bravely, play the man ; 
 Look not on pleasures as they come, but 
 
 go; 
 
 Defer not the least virtue; life's poor span 
 
 Make not an ell by trifling in thy woe. 
 
 If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains; 
 
 If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains. 
 
 — George Herbert. 
 
 47 
 
March Sixteenth. 
 pELLOW-CHRISTIAN, however irksome 
 may be the pathway thou art treading, 
 and unpromising the prospect around thee, 
 be of good courage. He who has given 
 His Son for thee will not forsake thee. 
 Blind though thou art to many of His gifts, 
 He will open thine eyes to behold His good- 
 ness; dumb though thou mayest be in ac- 
 knowledging His mercy. He will put a new 
 song in thy mouth, and compel thee to praise 
 Him for His abounding goodness. 
 
 — Old Humphrey. 
 
 March Seventeenth. 
 
 'TpHERE are folks who, both in their own 
 case and that of others, seem to find a 
 strange satisfaction in sticking the thorn in 
 the hand further in; even in twisting the 
 dagger in the heart. Their lot has its in- 
 numerable blessings, but they will not look 
 at these. Let the view around in a hundred 
 directions be ever so charming, they cannot 
 be got to turn their mental view in one of 
 these. They persist in keeping nose and 
 eyes at the moral pigsty. 
 
 — The Country Parson. 
 48 
 
March Eighteenth. 
 
 pLANTED by the Master's hand, 
 
 Steadfast in thy place to stand 
 While the ever-changing year 
 Clothes or strips thy branches bare; 
 Lending not a leaf to hold 
 Warmth against the winter's cold. 
 Lightening not a limb the less 
 For the summer's sultriness; 
 Nay, thy burden heavier made, 
 That within thy bending shade 
 Thankless multitudes oppressed 
 There may lay them down and rest, — 
 Soul, upon thy Calvary 
 Wait; the Christ will come to thee. 
 
 — Rev. John B. Tabb. 
 
 March Nineteenth. 
 
 npHANK God every morning when you 
 get up that you have something to do 
 that day which must be done, whether you 
 like it or not. Being forced to work and 
 forced to do your best will breed in you tem- 
 perance, self-control, diligence, strength of 
 will, content, and a hundred virtues which 
 the idle will never know. 
 
 — Charles Kingsley. 
 
 49 
 
March Twentieth. 
 npOO long have I, methought, with tearful 
 eye, 
 Pored o'er this tangled work of mine, and 
 
 mused 
 Above each stitch awry, and thread con- 
 fused ; 
 Now will I think on what in years gone by 
 I heard of them that weave rare tapestry 
 At royal looms, and how they constant use 
 To work on the rough side, and still peruse 
 The pictured pattern set above them high : 
 So will I set my Copy high above, 
 
 And gaze, and gaze till on my spirit grows 
 Its gracious impress; till some line of love 
 Transferred upon my canvass, faintly 
 glows; 
 Nor look too much on warp or woof, pro- 
 vide 
 He whom I work for sees their fairer side! 
 — Dora Greenwell. 
 
 March Twenty-first. 
 
 T ET us be faithful and care for our own 
 
 part, and lay Christ's part on Himself, 
 
 and leave it there. Duties are ours, events 
 
 are the Lord's. When our faith goeth to 
 
 50 
 
meddle with events, and to hold a court (if 1 
 may so speak) upon God's providence, and 
 beginneth to say, How wilt Thou do this 
 and that ? we lose ground: we have nothing 
 to do there ; it is our part to let the Almighty 
 exercise His own office, and steer His own 
 helm ; there is nothing left us, but to see how 
 we may be approved of Him, and how we 
 may roll the weight of our weak souls (in 
 well doing) upon Him who is God Omnip- 
 otent; and when what we thus lay miscar- 
 rieth, it shall neither be our sin nor cross. 
 — Samuel Rutherford. 
 
 March Twenty-second. 
 T ET thy day be to thy night 
 
 A letter of good tidings. Let thy praise 
 Go up as birds go up, that when they wake 
 Shake off the dew and soar. So take Joy 
 
 home. 
 And make a place in thy great heart for her. 
 And give her time to grow, and cherish her. 
 Then will she come, and oft will sing to thee 
 When thou art working in the furrows; ay, 
 Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn. 
 It is a comely fashion to be glad, — 
 Joy is the grace we say to God. 
 
 — Jean Ingelow. 
 
 51 
 
March Twenty-third. 
 
 T)0 not cheat thy heart and tell her, 
 
 "Grief will pass away, 
 Hope for fairer times in future 
 
 And forget to-day." 
 Tell her, if you will, that sorrow 
 
 Need not come in vain; 
 Tell her that the lesson taught her 
 Far outweighs the pain. 
 
 — Adelaide A. Procter. 
 
 March Twenty-fourth. 
 
 A SOUL may be in a pardoned state, 
 though in a troubled state. Your sins 
 can never be triumphant, your graces never 
 decay, your souls can never be lost, your 
 God and you never separated. The devil 
 shall as soon pluck Christ out of heaven, as 
 out of a believer's heart. He sits as fast 
 upon His throne here, as there. The .devils 
 could not enter into the herd of swine with- 
 out Christ's leave; and will He let them 
 worry His lambs ? Believe firmly, hope joy- 
 fully, love fervently, pray earnestly, walk 
 humbly, work diligently, and wait quietly; 
 and all this will be graciously considered. 
 Still watch, still pray, still believe, fight and 
 
 52 
 
run that you may obtain; it is but a little 
 while, and He that comes will come, and 
 will not tarry; it is but a little while and your 
 warfare is accomplished, and your sin and 
 sorrow, tears and fears, fled and gone, gone 
 forever. — ^John Mason. 
 
 March Twenty-fifth. 
 
 T BEAR no ill to any hill, 
 
 I'm brother to the trees. 
 My mind doth melt to mountains, 
 
 And my soul doth seek the seas; 
 I greet the sun uprising 
 
 With a friendly, loving nod; 
 Within the breast of Nature 
 
 Throbs the heart of God. 
 
 A little day, and then away 
 
 Unto another shore; 
 Some hasting years of bliss and tears, 
 
 Then Charon at the oar; 
 Whatever cometh after 
 
 Our sojourn 'neath the sod. 
 Within the breast of Nature 
 
 Throbs the heart of God. 
 
 — Robert Loveman. 
 
 53 
 
March Twenty-sixth. 
 /^OD is almighty — all-benevolent; 
 
 And naught exists save by His loving 
 will. 
 Evil, or what we reckon such, exists, 
 And not against His will; else the Supreme 
 Is subject, and we have in place of God 
 A phantom nothing, with a phantom name. 
 Therefore I care not whether He ordain 
 That evil live, or whether He permit; 
 Therefore I ask not why, in either case, 
 As if He meant to curse me, but I ask 
 What He would have this evil do for me } 
 What is its mission .? what its ministry .? 
 What golden fruit lies hidden in its husk ? 
 How shall it nurse my virtue, nerve my will, 
 Chasten my passions, purify my love. 
 And make me in some goodly sense like Him 
 Who bore the cross of evil while He lived. 
 Who hung and bled upon it when He died, 
 And now, in glory, wears the victor's crown? 
 
 — J. G. Holland. 
 
 March Twenty-seventh. 
 
 /^IVE me these links: first, sense of need; 
 
 second, desire to get; third, belief that, 
 
 though He withhold for awhile, He loves to 
 
 54 
 
be asked; and fourth, belief that asking will 
 obtain — give me these links, and the chain 
 will reach from earth to heaven, bringing all 
 heaven down to me, or bringing me up into 
 heaven. — Thomas Guthrie. 
 
 W^ 
 
 March Twenty-eighth. 
 ''ORK — work — work! It is the iron 
 ploughshare that goes over the field 
 of the heart rooting up all the pretty grasses 
 and the beautiful, hurtful weeds that we 
 have taken such pleasure in growing, laying 
 them all under, fair and foul together, making 
 plain, dull-looking, arable land for our neigh- 
 bors to peer at; until at night-time, down in 
 the deep furrows, the angels come and sow. 
 — Dinah Mulock Craik. 
 
 March Twenty-ninth. 
 TF one looks upon the bright side 
 It is sure to be the right side; 
 At least, that's how I've found it as I've jour- 
 neyed through each day; 
 And it's queer how shadows vanish. 
 And how easy 'tis to banish 
 From a bright-side sort of nature every dole- 
 ful thing away. 
 
 —Mary D. Brine. 
 
 55 
 
March Thirtieth. 
 
 ■you murmur that your lot is cast 
 
 Where wealth is counted more than 
 worth. 
 Fear not, these perish in the use 
 
 With all that hath not heavenly birth; 
 But every deed of simple love. 
 And every step of duty trod. 
 Are songs to cheer the pilgrim feet 
 That go through sorrow unto God. 
 
 — Boyd Carpenter. 
 
 March Thirty-first. 
 
 'TpHEY have left me the sun and moon, fire 
 and water, a loving wife, and many 
 friends to pity me, and some to relieve me, 
 and I can still discourse; and, unless 1 list, 
 they have not taken away my merry coun- 
 tenance, and my cheerful spirit, and a good 
 conscience ; they still have left me the provi- 
 dence of God, and all the promises of the 
 gospel, and my religion, and my hopes of 
 heaven, and my charity to them too; and 
 still I sleep and digest, I eat and drink, I read 
 and meditate; 1 can walk in my neighbor's 
 pleasant fields, and see the varieties of nat- 
 ural beauties, and delight in all that in which 
 
 56 
 
God delights — that is, in virtue and wisdom, 
 in the whole creation, and in God Himself. 
 And he that hath so many causes of joy, and 
 so great, is very much in love with sorrow 
 and peevishness, who loses all these pleas- 
 ures, and chooses to sit down upon his little 
 handful of thorns. — Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 April First. 
 
 ■yES, clean yer house, an' clean yer shed, 
 
 An' clean yer barn in ev'ry part; 
 But brush the cobwebs from yer head. 
 
 An' sweep the snowbanks from yer heart. 
 Yes, w'en spring cleanin' comes aroun', 
 Bring forth the duster an' the broom. 
 But rake yer fogy notions down. 
 An' sweep yer dusty soul of gloom. 
 
 — Sam Walter Foss. 
 
 April Second. 
 
 OAST all thy care on God. See that all 
 thy care be such as thou canst cast on 
 God, and then hold none back. Cast thy 
 whole self, even this very care which dis- 
 tresseth thee, upon God. — E. B. Pusey. 
 
 57 
 
April Third. 
 npAKE thou thy burden thus 
 
 Into thy hands, and lay it at His feet, 
 And whether it be sorrow, or defeat, 
 Or pain, or sin, or care. 
 It will grow lighter there. 
 
 — Marianne Farningham. 
 
 April Fourth. 
 
 TF 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. 
 
 April Fifth. 
 
 npAKE life like a man. Take it as though 
 it was — as it is — an earnest, vital, essen- 
 tial affair. Take it just as though you were 
 born to the task of performing a merry part 
 in it — as though the world had waited your 
 coming. Take it as though it were a grand 
 
 58 
 
opportunity to achieve, to carry forward 
 great and good schemes, to hold and to cheer 
 a suffering, weary, it may be heart-broken, 
 brother. — Charles H. Spurgeon. 
 
 April Sixth. 
 
 r^OD never would send you the darkness 
 
 If He felt you could bear the light; 
 But you would not cling to His guiding hand 
 
 If the way were always bright. 
 And you would not care to walk by faith 
 
 Could you always walk by sight. 
 
 Then nestle your hand in the Father's, 
 And sing, if you can, as you go; 
 
 Your song may cheer some one behind you 
 Whose courage is sinking low. 
 
 And, well, if your lips do quiver, 
 God will love you the better so. 
 
 April Seventh. 
 
 T AM satisfied I am on the right path so long 
 as I can see anything to make me happier, 
 anything to make me love man, and there- 
 fore God, the more. God is not far from 
 that heart to which man is near. 
 
 — ^James Russell Lowell. 
 
 59 
 
^i% 
 
 April Eighth. 
 
 ^HRIST'S heart was wrung for me, if mine 
 is sore ; 
 And if my feet are weary, His liave bled; 
 He had no place wherein to lay His head; 
 If I am burdened. He was burdened more. 
 The cup I drink, He drank of long before; 
 He felt the unuttered anguish which I dread; 
 He hungered who the hungry thousands 
 fed, 
 And thirsted who the world's refreshment 
 
 bore. 
 If grief be such a looking-glass as shows 
 Christ's face and man's in some sort made 
 
 alike, 
 Then grief is pleasure with a subtle taste; 
 Wherefore should any fret or faint or haste ? 
 Grief is not grievous to a soul that knows 
 Christ comes — and listens for that hour to 
 strike. 
 
 — Christina G. Rossetti. 
 
 April Ninth. 
 
 /~\UR helm is given up to a better guidance 
 
 than our own ; the course of events is 
 
 quite too strong for any helmsman, and our 
 
 little wherry is taken in tow by the ship of 
 
 60 
 
the great Admiral, who knows the way, and 
 has the force to draw men, states, and planets 
 to their good. — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 
 April Tenth. 
 
 T\0 not look forward to what may happen 
 to-morrow; the same everlasting Father 
 who cares for you to-day will care for you 
 to-morrow and every day. Either He will 
 shield you from suffering, or He will give you 
 unfailing strength to bear it. 
 
 — Francis de Sales. 
 
 April Eleventh. 
 
 AWAY, then, O man, with thy feeble 
 complaints and feverish despondencies. 
 There is no place left for this kind of non- 
 sense. Let it fill thee with cheerfulness and 
 exalted feeling, however deep in obscurity 
 your lot may be, that God is leading you on, 
 girding you for a work, preparing you to a 
 good that is worthy of His divine magnifi- 
 cence. If God is really preparing us all to 
 become that which is the very highest and 
 best thing possible, there ought never to be a 
 discouraged or uncheerful being in the world. 
 — Horace Bushnell. 
 61 
 
April Twelfth. 
 
 /^UR lives, they are well worth the living 
 When we lose our small selves in the 
 whole, 
 And feel the strong surges of being 
 
 Throb through us, one heart and one soul. 
 Eternity bears up each honest endeavor; 
 The hfe lost for love is life saved, and for- 
 ever. 
 
 — Lucy Larcom. 
 
 April Thirteenth. 
 
 "NJOTHING hinders the life hid with Christ 
 in God so much as cares and dis- 
 tractions; and therefore it is that our com- 
 passionate Lord has directed us not to be 
 anxious about worldly matters; therefore 
 Paul expresses this affectionate desire, "I 
 would ye were without carefulness." It has 
 often encouraged me in worldly difficulties, 
 to consider those gracious words of our 
 Lord, "Take no thought for the morrow." 
 We may well leave the future with Him who 
 has so abundantly blessed us in the past, and 
 has given us an assured hope that He will 
 continue to be with us, and be our guide even 
 unto death. — Rev. Edward Bickersteth. 
 
 62 
 
April Fourteenth. 
 T WAS walking along one winter's night, 
 hurrying towards home, with my little 
 maiden at my side. Said she, "Father, I am 
 going to count the stars." "Very well," I 
 said, " go on." By and by I heard her count- 
 ing: "Two hundred and twenty-three, two 
 hundred and twenty-five. O dear," she said, 
 "1 had no idea there were so many. " Ah, 
 dear friend, I sometimes say in my soul, 
 " Now, Master, I am going to count the bene- 
 fits." Soon my heart sighs, not with sorrow, 
 but burdened with such goodness, and I say 
 to myself, " 1 had no idea that there were so 
 many." — Mark Guy Pearse. 
 
 April Fifteenth. 
 TTIT'HAT though my lot is a lonely place 
 
 And my spirit behind the bars ? 
 All the day long I may look at the sun. 
 And at night look out at the stars. 
 
 Dear God! let me grow from day to day 
 
 Clinging and sunny and bright! 
 Though planted in shade. Thy window is 
 near. 
 And my leaves may turn to the light. 
 
 — Mary Mapes Dodge. 
 
 63 
 
April Sixteenth. 
 
 T OVE, an unsevered union 
 
 Of soul with tiiose we love. 
 Nearness and glad communion 
 Shall be our joy above. 
 
 No dread of wasting sickness. 
 No thought of ache or pain, 
 
 No fretting hours of weakness. 
 Shall mar our peace again. 
 
 No death our homes o'ershading, 
 Shall e'er our harps unstring. 
 
 For all is life unfading, 
 In presence of our King. 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 
 April Seventeenth. 
 
 ''T'lS certain, dearly beloved brethren, that 
 the little griefs, stings, annoyances 
 which you and I feel acutely, in our own 
 persons, do not prevent our neighbors from 
 sleeping; and that when we step out of the 
 world, the world does not miss us. Is this 
 humiliating to our vanity ? So much the 
 better. But, on the other hand, is it not a 
 comfortable and consoling truth ? and may 
 
 64 
 
not we be thankful for our humble condition ? 
 If we were not selfish — passe^ moi le mot, s. 
 V. p. — and if we had to care for other people's 
 griefs as much as our own, how intolerable 
 human life would be! If my neighbor's 
 tight boot pinched my corn; if the calumny 
 uttered against Jones set Brown into fury; if 
 Mrs. A's death plunged Messrs. B, C, D, E, 
 F into distraction, would there be any bear- 
 ing of the world's burthen .? 
 
 — William M. Thackeray. 
 
 April Eighteenth. 
 
 "r\EAR Friend, whose presence in the house. 
 
 Whose gracious word benign. 
 Could once at Cana's wedding feast 
 Turn water into wine. 
 
 Come visit us, and when dull work 
 
 Grows weary, line on line, 
 Revive our souls, and make us see 
 
 Life's water glow as wine. 
 
 Gay mirth shall deepen into joy, 
 Earth's hopes shall grow divine. 
 
 When Jesus visits us, to turn 
 Life's water into wine. 
 
 — James Freeman Clarke. 
 
 65 
 
April Nineteenth. 
 
 TT fortifies my soul to know 
 
 That, though 1 perish, Truth is so; 
 That, howsoe'er I stray and range, 
 Whate'er I do, Thou dost not change. 
 I steadier step when I recall 
 That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall. 
 
 — Arthur Hugh Clough. 
 
 April Twentieth. 
 
 jpNJOYlNG things which are pleasant, — 
 that is not the evil; it is the reducing of 
 our moral self to slavery by them that is. 
 Let a man assert withal that he is king over 
 his habitudes; that he could and would shake 
 them off on cause shown; this is an excellent 
 law. — Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 April Twenty-first. 
 
 'TpHE more the cross, the better Christian; 
 God lays the touchstone to each soul. 
 How many a garden must lie waste, 
 
 Did not a tear-storm o'er it roll! 
 
 Refining grief, a living coal. 
 Upon the Christian's heart is placed. 
 
 — SCHMOLK. 
 
April Twenty-second. 
 "XXTHEN we see Christians that are subject 
 to like infirmities with ourselves, mute 
 and silent under the afflicting hand of God, 
 we see that it is possible that we may attain 
 to the same noble temper of being tongue- 
 tied under a smarting rod. Folly brings man 
 into misery, and misery makes man to fret. 
 Man in misery is more apt to fret and chafe 
 against the Lord than to fret and chafe 
 against his sin that brought him into suffer- 
 ings. Oh! it is neither prudent nor profitable 
 to fret against God ! — Thomas Brooks. 
 
 April Twenty-third. 
 
 Xl^HEN we want light in our rooms, we 
 unbar the shutters and let in the sun- 
 shine; dark rooms are unwholesome. In like 
 manner, every Christian who wants to be 
 happy — and happy also under all circum- 
 stances — should keep his heart-windows wide 
 open towards heaven. Let the warm rays of 
 Christ's countenance shine in! It will scatter 
 the chilling mists of doubt; it will turn tears 
 into rainbows. 
 
 — Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D. 
 
 67 
 
April Twenty-fourth. 
 T IKE a cradle rocking, rocking, 
 
 Silent, peaceful, to and fro, 
 Like a mother's sweet looks dropping 
 
 On the little face below, — 
 Hangs the green earth, swinging, turning, 
 
 Jarless, noiseless, safe and slow; 
 Falls the light of God's face bending 
 
 Down and watching us below. 
 
 Saxe Holm. 
 
 April Twenty-fifth. 
 "VTEVER be discouraged because good 
 things get on so slowly here; and 
 never fall to do daily that good which lies 
 next to your hand. Do not be in a hurry, 
 but be diligent. Enter into the sublime 
 patience of the Lord. 
 
 — George MacDonald. 
 
 April Twenty-sixth. 
 
 /^H! it is well for us; with angry glance 
 
 Life looks at us, or looks at us askance. 
 Seek where we will — Father ! we see it now — 
 None love us, trust us, welcome us but Thou! 
 
 — F. W. Faber. 
 68 
 
April Twenty-seventh. 
 \ DMIT into thy silent breast 
 
 Tlie notes of but one bird, 
 And instantly thy soul will join 
 In jubilant accord. 
 
 The perfume of a single flower 
 
 Inhale like breath of God, 
 And in the garden of thy heart 
 
 A thousand buds will nod. 
 
 Towards one star in heaven's expanse 
 
 Direct thy spirit's flight, 
 And thou wilt have in the wide world, 
 
 My child, enough delight. 
 
 — Johanna Ambrosius. 
 
 April Twenty-eighth. 
 IMAGINE the peace of heart which follows 
 the casting out of the element of selfish- 
 ness as the root of action ; but it is peace, 
 observe, only, that is promised to you, not at 
 all necessarily, or at least primarily, joy. 
 You shall find rest unto your souls when first 
 you take on you the yoke of Christ; but joy 
 only when you have borne it as long as He 
 wills, and are called to enter into the joy of 
 your Lord.— John Ruskin. 
 
 69 
 
4^ilt 
 
 April Twenty-ninth. 
 
 T ISTEN! the song-sparrow 1 
 
 Spirit ? or a bird ? 
 Simple joy of singing 
 
 In his song is heard. 
 Somewhere, far in glory, 
 
 Love our life has kissed; 
 He resounds the rapture. 
 
 Heavenly optimist! 
 
 Waft us down faith's message 
 
 From behind the sky, 
 Till our aspirations 
 
 With thee sing and fly! 
 "God is good forever! 
 
 Nothing shall go wrong! " 
 Sunshine set to music: 
 'Tis the sparrow's song. 
 
 — Lucy Larcom. 
 
 April Thirtieth. 
 'TpHE more we fear crosses, the more rea- 
 son have we to think that we need them. 
 Let us not be discouraged when the hand of 
 God layeth heavy woes upon us. We ought 
 to judge of the violence of our disease by the 
 violence of the remedies which our Spiritual 
 Physician prescribes for us. It is a great 
 
 70 
 
argument for our own wretchedness, and of 
 God's mercy, that, notwithstanding the 
 difficulty of our recovery, He vouchsafes to 
 undertake our cure. Let us then draw from 
 our very afflictions a source of love, of com- 
 fort, and trust in God, saying with His 
 apostle, " Our light affliction, which is but 
 for a moment, worketh for us a far more ex- 
 ceeding and eternal weight of glory." 
 " Blessed are they that mourn and sow in 
 tears, because they shall reap with joy the 
 harvest of eternal glory." — Fenelon. 
 
 Maj! First. 
 AS the marsh-hen secretly builds on the 
 
 watery sod. 
 Behold 1 will build me a nest on the greatness 
 
 of God: 
 I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh- 
 hen flies 
 In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt 
 
 the marsh and the skies: 
 By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in 
 
 the sod 
 1 will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness 
 of God. 
 
 — Sidney Lanier. 
 
 71 
 
May Second. 
 npHERE is no man but hath blessings enough 
 in present possession to outweigh the 
 evils of a great affliction. Tell the joints of 
 thy body, and do not accuse the universal 
 Providence for a lame leg or the want of a 
 finger, when all the rest is perfect, and you 
 have a noble soul, a particle of divinity, the 
 image of God Himself; and by the want of a 
 finger you may the better know how to 
 estimate the remaining parts, and to account 
 for every degree of the surviving blessings. 
 Aristippus, in a great suit of law, lost a farm, 
 and to a gentleman, who in civility pitied and 
 deplored his loss, he answered, " I have two 
 farms left still, and that is more than 1 have 
 lost, and more than you have by one." 
 
 — Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 May Third. 
 
 /^H! ask not thou, How shall I bear 
 
 The burden of to-morrow ? 
 Sufficient for the day its care, 
 
 Its evil, and its sorrow; 
 God imparteth by the way 
 Strength sufficient for the day. 
 
 — Verse hung up by General Gordon in his dedroom, 
 
 72 
 
d9llt^ 
 
 May Fourth. 
 T SHOULD seek, I should care, for nothing. 
 
 Beholding His countenance; 
 And fear but to lose one glimmer 
 By one single sideway glance. 
 Come to me, shine on me. Master, 
 And I care not for river or tree — 
 Care for no sorrow or crying 
 If only Thou shine in me. 
 
 — George MacDonald. 
 
 May Fifth. 
 '\X7'E are ever ready to confide in weak 
 friends, and we are afraid to trust in 
 God. We believe the promises of the world, 
 but we cannot believe the word of God. Let 
 us make an effort to restore the divine order ; 
 let us confide with moderation in what de- 
 pends upon ourselves, but let us set no 
 bounds to our confidence in God. Let us re- 
 press all eagerness, all inquietude, all that we 
 call zeal. He who thus trusts in God be- 
 comes immovable as Mount Zion. Our trust 
 should be more firm and elevated. "lean 
 do ail things, through Christ which strength- 
 eneth me." — Fenelon. 
 73 
 
May Sixth. 
 
 TTCrHEN apple-boughs are full of bloom, 
 And Nature loves her fellow-men 
 With all the witchery of spring, 
 How can you hate a fellow then ? 
 
 — Alice Wellington Rollins, 
 
 May Seventh. 
 
 TN the cruel fire of Sorrow 
 
 Cast thy heart, do not faint or wail; 
 Let thy hand be firm and steady, 
 
 Do not let thy spirit quail : 
 But wait till the trial is over. 
 
 And take thy heart again; 
 For as gold is tried by fire. 
 
 So a heart must be tried by pain! 
 
 — Adelaide A. Procter. 
 
 May Eighth. 
 
 T WISH you all to feel, and to feel it in 
 every drop of your blood, that Christ as 
 your friend sympathizes with you at all 
 times, and in all the moral conditions of your 
 nature. Do not think that He sympathizes 
 with you and loves you when in your best 
 
 74 
 
moods only ; for, if you should, you would 
 wrong Him bitterly. A bird is no more 
 surely noted by the Father of all, when, 
 glancing upward through the morning light, 
 he pours his liquid notes upon the fragrant air, 
 than when, stricken by cruelty or evil chance, 
 he lies fluttering, a bunch of ruffled and 
 bloody plumage, upon the dewy lawn. 
 
 —Rev. W. H. H. Murray. 
 
 May Ninth. 
 ■\7'ERY soon they who are separated will be 
 reunited, and there will appear no trace 
 of the separation. They, who are about to 
 set out upon a journey, ought not to feel 
 themselves far distant from those who have 
 gone to the same country, a few days before. 
 Life is like a torrent; the past is but a dream; 
 the present, while we are thinking of it, es- 
 capes us, and is precipitated in the same 
 abyss that has swallowed up the past; the 
 future will not be of a different nature, it will 
 pass as rapidly. A few moments, and a few 
 more, and all will be ended; what has ap- 
 peared long and tedious, will seem short, 
 when it is finished. — Fenelon. 
 
 75 
 
May Tenth. 
 
 T ASK not that for me the plan 
 Of good and ill be set aside, 
 But that the common lot of man 
 Be nobly borne and glorified. 
 
 1 know I may not always keep 
 My steps in places green and sweet, 
 
 Nor find the pathway of the deep 
 A path of safety for my feet. 
 
 But pray that, when the tempest's breath. 
 Shall fiercely sweep my way about, 
 
 1 make no shipwreck of my faith 
 In the unbottomed sea of doubt. 
 
 — Phcebe Gary. 
 
 May Eleventh. 
 TT is reported of a woman who, being 
 sick, was asked whether she was will- 
 ing to live or die, she answered, "Which 
 God pleases." "But," said one, "if God 
 should refer it to you, which would you 
 choose?" "Truly," replied she, "I would 
 refer it to Him again." Thus that man ob- 
 tains his will of God, whose will is subjected 
 to God. — Rev. William Secker. 
 
 76 
 
May Twelfth. 
 
 ■DE useful where thou livest, that they may 
 Both want and wish thy pleasing pres- 
 ence still : 
 Kindness, good parts, great places, are the 
 way 
 To compass this. Find out men's want 
 and will. 
 And meet them there. All worldly joys go 
 
 less 
 To the one joy of doing kindnesses. 
 
 — George Herbert. 
 
 May Thirteenth. 
 
 TXT^HAT is it that promotes the most and 
 the deepest thought in the human race ? 
 It is not learning; it is not the conduct of busi- 
 ness; it is not even the impulse 6f the af- 
 fections. It is suffering: and that perhaps, is 
 the reason why there is so much suffering in 
 the world. The angel that went down to 
 trouble the waters, and to make them heal- 
 ing, was not, perhaps, entrusted with so 
 great a boon as the angel who benevolently 
 inflicted upon the sufferers the diseases from 
 which they suffered. — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 77 
 
May Fourteenth. 
 
 'T'HERE is scarce any lot so low, but there 
 is something in it to satisfy the man 
 whom it has befallen: Providence having so 
 ordered things, that in every man's cup, how 
 bitter soever, there are some cordial drops — 
 some good circumstances, which, if wisely 
 extracted, are sufficient for the purpose he 
 wants them — that is, to make him contented, 
 and, if not happy, at least resigned. 
 
 — Laurence Sterne. 
 
 May Fifteenth. 
 
 C AIL o'er the seas 
 
 In ships of prayer! 
 Upon consecrated knees — 
 Go everywhere! 
 
 Let prayer have way ! 
 
 So shalt thou see 
 The promises to-day — 
 
 So shalt thou be 
 
 Unmoved amid 
 
 The stress of care. 
 While thou art hid 
 
 With Christ in prayer! 
 
 78 
 
May Sixteenth. 
 pEOPLE talk about special providences. I 
 believe in the providences, but not in the 
 specialty. I do not believe that God lets the 
 thread of my affairs go for six days, and on 
 the seventh evening takes it up for a moment. 
 The so-called special providences are no ex- 
 ception to the rule — they are common to all 
 men at all moments. But it is a fact that 
 God's care is more evident in some instances 
 of it than others to the dim and often be- 
 wildered vision of humanity. Upon such 
 instances men seize and call them provi- 
 dences. It is well that they can; but it 
 would be gloriously better if they could. be- 
 lieve that the whole matter is one grand 
 providence. — George MacDonald. 
 
 May Seventeenth. 
 COW, and look onward, upward. 
 
 Where the starry light appears; 
 Where, in spite of the coward's doubting, 
 
 Or your own heart's trembling fears, 
 You shall reap in joy the harvest 
 You have sown to-day in tears. 
 
 — Adelaide A. Procter. 
 
 79 
 
May Eighteenth. 
 
 QLING to the Crucified! 
 
 His is a heart of love, 
 
 Full as the hearts above; 
 
 Its depths of sympathy 
 
 Are all awake for thee: 
 
 His countenance is light, 
 
 Even to the darkest night. 
 
 That love shall never change — 
 That light shall ne'er grow dim; 
 
 Charge thou thy faithless heart 
 To find its all in Him. 
 Cling to the Crucified! 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 
 May Nineteenth. 
 TF we choose, we do it so foolishly that we 
 cannot like it long, and most commonly 
 not at all: but God, who can do what He 
 pleases, is wise to choose safely for us, af- 
 fectionate to comply with our needs, and 
 powerful to execute all His wise decrees. 
 Here, therefore, is the wisdom of the con- 
 tented man, to let God choose for him ; for 
 when we have given up our wills to Him, 
 and stand in that station of the battle where 
 
 80 
 
our great General hath placed us, our spirits 
 must needs rest while our conditions have 
 for their security the power, the wisdom, and 
 the charity of God. — Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 May Twentieth. 
 TF people are to live happily together, they 
 must not fancy, because they are thrown 
 together now, that all their lives have been 
 exactly similar up to the present time, that 
 they started exactly alike, and that they are 
 to be for the future of the same mind. A 
 thorough conviction of the difference of men 
 is the great thing to be assured of in social 
 knowledge : it is to life what Newton's law 
 is to astronomy. — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 May Twenty-first. 
 
 A RT thou not a sunbeam. 
 
 Child, whose life is glad 
 With the inner radiance 
 Sunshine never had ? 
 Oh, as God hath blessed thee, 
 
 Scatter rays divine! 
 For there is no sunbeam 
 But must die or shine. 
 
 — Lucy Larcom. 
 
 81 
 
May Twenty-second. 
 T DO not ask, O Lord, that Thou shouldst 
 shed 
 
 Full radiance here : 
 Give but a ray of peace, that I may tread 
 
 Without a fear. 
 I do not ask my cross to understand, 
 
 My way to see — 
 Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand 
 
 And follow Thee. 
 Joy is like restless day, but peace divine 
 
 Like quiet night; 
 Lead me, O Lord, till perfect day shall shine. 
 
 Through Peace to Light. 
 
 — Adelaide A. Procter. 
 
 May Twenty-third. 
 TT is a common-place, that we cannot 
 answer for ourselves before we have 
 been tried. But it is not so common a reflec- 
 tion, and surely more consoling, that we 
 usually find ourselves a great deal braver and 
 better than we thought. I believe this is 
 everyone's experience; but an apprehension 
 that they may belie themselves in the future 
 prevents mankind from trumpeting this 
 cheerful sentiment abroad. I wish sincerely, 
 for it would have saved me much trouble, 
 
 82 
 
there had been someone to put me in a good 
 heart about Ufe when 1 was younger; to tell 
 me how dangers are most portentous on a 
 distant sight; and how the good in a man's 
 spirit will not suffer itself to be overlaid, and 
 rarely or never deserts him in the hour of 
 need. — Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 
 May Twenty-fourth. 
 
 JESUS, Thy love alone, alone Thy love, 
 Refresheth me; 
 And for that love of Thine, that freshening 
 love, 
 1 come to Thee. 
 
 It is Thy joy alone, alone Thy joy, 
 
 That gladdens me ; 
 And for that joy of Thine, that gladdening 
 joy, 
 
 I come to Thee. 
 
 Saviour, 'tis Thou Thyself, alone Thyself, 
 
 Art all to me ; 
 And for that all, of everything I need, 
 
 1 come to Thee. 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 83 
 
May Twenty-fifth. 
 
 npHINK that the grass upon thy grave is 
 
 green; 
 Think that thou seest thine own empty 
 
 chair; 
 The empty garments thou wast wont to 
 
 wear; 
 The empty room where long thy haunt hath 
 
 been. 
 Think that the lane, the meadow, and the 
 
 wood, 
 And mountain summit, feel thy feet no 
 
 more, 
 Nor the loud thoroughfare, nor sounding 
 
 shore; 
 All mere blank space where thou thyself 
 
 hath stood. 
 Amid this thought-created silence say 
 To thy stripped soul. What am I now and 
 
 where ? 
 Then turn and face the petty, narrowing 
 
 care 
 Which has been gnawing thee for many a 
 
 day. 
 And it will die as dies a wailing breeze. 
 Lost in the solemn roar of bounding seas. 
 — James Smetham. 
 
 84 
 
May Twenty-sixth. 
 VXTE cannot kindle when we will 
 
 Tiie fire that in the heart resides; 
 The spirit bloweth and is still, 
 In mystery our soul abides; 
 But tasks in hours of insight willed 
 Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled. 
 — Matthew Arnold. 
 
 May Twenty-seventh. 
 E) EAUTY still walketh on the earth and air 
 
 Our present sunsets are as rich in gold 
 As ere the Iliad's music was out-rolled; 
 The roses of the Spring are ever fair. 
 'Mong branches green still ring-doves coo 
 
 and pair 
 And the deep sea still foams its music old. 
 So, if we are at all divinely souled. 
 This beauty will unloose our bonds of care. 
 — Alexander Smith. 
 
 May Twenty-eighth. 
 J CANNOT say. 
 
 Beneath the presence of life's cares to-day, 
 I joy in these; 
 But I can say 
 That I would rather walk the rugged way 
 If Him it please. 
 85 
 
May Twenty-ninth,. 
 
 AXT'HY art thou cast down, my soul? 
 
 God, thy God, shall make thee whole. 
 Why art thou disquieted ? 
 God shall lift thy fallen head; 
 And His countenance benign 
 Be the saving health of thine. 
 
 —James Montgomery. 
 
 May Thirtieth. 
 
 pEACE is that state in which there is no 
 misery, no remorse, no sting. And 
 there are but three things which can break 
 that peace. The first is discord between the 
 mind of man and the lot which he is called 
 on to inherit; the second is discord between 
 the affections and powers of the soul; and 
 the third is doubt of the rectitude and justice 
 and love wherewith this world is ordered. 
 The man who has not peace in himself can- 
 not get peace from circumstances. There is 
 no thrill of pure peace that is impossible to 
 you, if only you have placed yourself in 
 earnest under the discipline of Christ. 
 
 — F. W. Robertson. 
 
 86 
 
May Thirty-first. 
 'TpHUS a saint of old hath said, 
 
 " For Thyself Thou hast us made. 
 For Thine own. 
 Beats the heart all restlessly 
 Till it rest, O God, in Thee, 
 Thee alone." 
 
 True, indeed; and yet, forsooth. 
 This is only half the truth. 
 
 Not the whole. 
 Sons of God, — and therefore brothers, — 
 We must find in serving others 
 
 Rest of soul. 
 
 — Mark Guy Pearse. 
 
 June First. 
 
 TF one door should be shut, God will open 
 another; if the peas do not yield well, 
 the beans may: if one hen leaves her eggs, 
 another will bring out all her brood. There's 
 a bright side to all things, and a good God 
 everywhere. Somewhere or other in the 
 worst flood of trouble there always is a dry 
 spot for contentment to get its foot on, and 
 if there were not it would learn to swim. 
 — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 87 
 
o. 
 
 June Second. 
 
 IF men did truly know, that God is 
 ' their own Father, and Christ their own 
 Redeemer and Head, and that those are their 
 own everlasting habitations, and that there 
 they must abide and be happy forever; how 
 could they choose but be transported with the 
 forethoughts thereof I If a Christian could but 
 look upon sun, moon, and stars, and reckon 
 all his own in Christ, and say, "These are 
 the blessings that my Lord hath procured me, 
 and things incomparably greater than these; " 
 what holy raptures would his spirit feel! 
 — Richard Baxter. 
 June Third. 
 
 COVETOUS man is fretful because he 
 has not so much as he desires; but a 
 gracious man is thankful because he has 
 more than he deserves. It is true, I have not 
 the sauce, but then I merit not the meat. I 
 have not the lace; but then I deserve not the 
 coat. I want that which may support my 
 dignity, but I have that which supplies my 
 necessity. " Having food and raiment, let us 
 therewith be content." Here is the flesh of 
 the creatures to fill us and the fleece of the 
 creature to cover us. — Rev. William Secker. 
 
 88 
 
 A 
 
juriR Fourth. 
 T^/'HAT matters it though life uncertain be 
 
 To all? What though its goal 
 Be never reached ? What though it fall and 
 flee, 
 Have we not each a soul ? 
 
 Be like the bird that on a bough too frail 
 
 To bear him gayly swings; 
 He carols though the slender branches fail — 
 
 He knows that he has wings. 
 
 — Victor Hugo. 
 
 June Fifth. 
 r^ OD is a kind Father. He sets us all in the 
 places where He wishes us to be em- 
 ployed; and that employment is truly "our 
 Father's business." He chooses work for 
 every creature which will be delightful to 
 them, if they do it simply and humbly. He 
 gives us always strength enough, and sense 
 enough, for what He wants us to do; if we 
 either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it is 
 our own fault. And we may always be 
 sure, whatever we are doing, that we cannot 
 be pleasing Him, if we are not happy our- 
 selves.— John RUSKIN. 
 
June Sixth. 
 
 'T'HERE'S a bird in my Iieart that sings 
 
 A melody sweet and fine; 
 Throughout his canticle rings 
 The strain of a love divine; 
 And the purpose his music moves — 
 
 The key of his minstrelsy — 
 Is the theme my spirit loves, 
 A Saviour that saveth me. 
 " Me — Me!" the echo rings 
 Of the song the sweet bird sings. 
 — Minnie Willis Baines. 
 
 June Seventh. 
 
 "PRIENDS, let us take to patience and water 
 gruel, as the old folks used to tell us, 
 rather than catch the miserables, and give 
 others the disease by wickedly finding fault 
 with God. The best remedy for affliction is 
 submitting to providence. What can't be 
 cured must be endured. If we cannot get 
 bacon, let us bless God that there are still 
 some cabbages in the garden. Must is a 
 hard nut to crack, but it has a sweet kernel. 
 " All things work together for good to them 
 that love God." — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 90 
 
I 
 
 June Eighth. 
 
 SUSPECT we shall find some day that the 
 loss of the human paradise consists chiefly 
 in the closing of the human eyes; that at 
 least, far more of it than people think remains 
 about us still, only we are so filled with fool- 
 ish desires and evil cares that we cannot see 
 or hear, cannot even smell or taste the pleas- 
 ant things round about us. We have need 
 to pray in regard to the right receiving of the 
 things of the senses even, " Lord, open Thou 
 our hearts to understand Thy Word"; for 
 each of these things is as certainly a word of 
 God as Jesus is the Word of God. 
 
 —George MacDonald. 
 
 June Ninth. 
 /^AN loving children e'er reprove 
 
 With murmurs whom they trust and 
 love? 
 Creator, I would ever be 
 A trusting, loving child to Thee. 
 As comes to me or cloud or sun. 
 Father, Thy will, not mine, be done. 
 
 — Mrs. S. F. Adams. 
 
 91 
 
June Tenth. 
 T ET a man say to himself, " I am not the 
 perfect character I meant to be; this is 
 not the conduct 1 had imagined for myself; 
 these are not the fortunate circumstances I 
 had always intended to be surrounded by." 
 Let him at once admit that he is on a lower 
 level than his ideal one; and then see what 
 is to be done there. — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 June Eleventh. 
 
 ■pjE is coming, O my spirit! with His ever- 
 lasting peace, 
 With His blessedness immortal and com- 
 plete. 
 He is coming, O my spirit! and His coming 
 brings release. 
 I listen for the coming of His feet. 
 
 June Twelfth. 
 
 T SHOULD like to know a man who just 
 minded his duty and troubled himself 
 about nothing; who did his own work and 
 did not interfere with God's. How nobly he 
 would work — working not for reward, but 
 
 93 
 
because it was the will of God! How hap- 
 pily he would receive his food and clothing, 
 receiving them as the gifts of God ! What 
 peace would be his! What a sober gayety! 
 How hearty and infectious his laughter! 
 What a friend he would be! How sweet his 
 sympathy! And his mind would be so clear 
 he would understand everything. His eye 
 being single, his whole body would be full 
 of light. No fear of his ever doing a mean 
 thing. He would die in a ditch rather. It is 
 this fear of want that makes men do mean 
 things. — George Macdonald. 
 
 June Thirteenth. 
 
 CEE that little sunbeam 
 
 Darting through the room 
 Lighting up the darliness. 
 Scattering the gloom. 
 
 Let me be a sunbeam 
 Everywhere I go. 
 
 Making glad and happy 
 Every one 1 know. 
 
 93 
 
June Fourteenth. 
 
 /^OME, heavy laden one, 
 
 Where'er thou art; 
 Lay at the Master's feet, 
 
 Thy broken heart ; 
 Cast thou on Him thy care; 
 Though hard thy cross to bear, 
 Jesus, who answers prayer. 
 Sweet rest will give. 
 
 — Fanny J. Crosby. 
 
 June Fifteenth. 
 
 IT'S O my heart, my heart. 
 
 To be out in the sun and sing! 
 To sing and shout in the fields about. 
 In the balm and the blossoming. 
 
 Sing loud, O bird, in the tree; 
 
 O bird, sing loud in the sky ; 
 And honey-bees, blacken the clover seas; 
 
 There are none of you glad as I. 
 
 For oh, but the world is fair, is fair; 
 
 And oh, but the world is sweet! 
 I will out in the gold of the blossoming 
 mould. 
 
 And sit at the Master's feet. 
 
 — InA D. COOLBRITH. 
 94 
 
June Sixteenth. 
 "J^OT always seen the wisdom and the love; 
 And sometimes hard to be believed, 
 when pain 
 Wrestles with faith, and almost overcomes ; 
 Yet even in conflict thy sure words sus- 
 tain — 
 "In Me ye shall have peace!" 
 
 Father, the flesh is weak; fain would I rise 
 Above its weakness into things unseen; 
 Lift Thou me up; give me the open ear 
 To hear the voice that speaketh from 
 within — 
 " In Me ye shall have peace! " 
 
 June Seventeenth. 
 
 "XXT'E are saved by hope. Never man hoped 
 too much, or repented that he had 
 hoped. The plague is, that we don't hope 
 in God half enough. Hope never hurt any 
 one — never yet interfered with duty; nay, it 
 always strengthens to the performance of 
 duty, gives courage and clears the judgment. 
 St. Paul says we are saved by hope. Hope 
 is the most rational thing in the universe. 
 — George MacDonald. 
 
 95 
 
June Eighteenth. 
 
 "D E strong to hope, O Heart ! 
 
 Though day is bright, 
 The stars can only shine 
 
 In the dark night. 
 Be strong, O Heart of mine. 
 
 Look towards the light! 
 
 Be strong to bear, O Heart 1 
 
 Nothing is vain: 
 Strive not, for life is care, 
 
 And God sends pain; 
 Heaven is above, and there 
 
 Rest will remain! 
 
 Be strong to Ime, O Heart ! 
 
 Love knows not wrong; 
 Didst thou love — creatures even. 
 
 Life were not long; 
 Didst thou love God in heaven. 
 
 Thou wouldst be strong ! 
 
 — Adelaide A. Procter. 
 
 June Nineteenth. 
 
 Y'OU have a disagreeable duty to do at 
 
 twelve o'clock. Do not blacken nine 
 
 and ten and eleven, and all between, with 
 
 96 
 
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 dark- 
 ness. How often do men who have made 
 up their minds what to say and do under 
 certain expected circumstances, forget the 
 words and reverse the actions! The best 
 preparation is the present well seen to, the 
 last duty done. — George MacDonald. 
 
 June Twentieth. 
 /~\UR God is never so far off 
 
 As even to be near: 
 He is within; our spirit is 
 
 The home He holds most dear. 
 To think of Him as by our side 
 
 Is almost as untrue 
 As to remove His throne beyond 
 
 Those skies of starry blue. 
 So, all the while I thought myself 
 Homeless, forlorn, and weary, 
 Missing my joy, I walked the earth. 
 Myself God's sanctuary. 
 
 — Frederick W. Faber. 
 
 97 
 
June Twenty-first. 
 
 T TPON a cloud among the stars we stood. 
 The angel raised his hand and looked 
 and said, 
 "Which world, of all yon starry myriad. 
 Shall we make wing to ? " The still solitude 
 Became a harp whereon his voice and mood 
 Made spheral music round his haloed head. 
 I spake — for then I had not long been dead — 
 "Let me look round upon the vasts, and 
 
 brood 
 A moment on these orbs ere I decide. . . . 
 What is yon lower star that beauteous 
 
 shines. 
 And with soft splendor now incarnadines 
 Our wings .? — There would 1 go and there 
 
 abide." 
 He smiled as one who some child's thought 
 
 divines: 
 "That is the world where yesternight you 
 
 died." 
 
 — Lloyd Mifflin. 
 
 June Twenty-second. 
 
 TT is a grand thing for the English language 
 
 that there is no word for " ennui." If 
 
 the creation had been drab-colored; if there 
 
 98 
 
had been no horses, dogs, water-rats, or 
 dragon-flies; if science and art had been 
 intuitive; if religion had been clear; if all 
 men's condition had been equal; if men and 
 women were always amenable to reason, 
 and boys were always quiet — then the world 
 might have been somewhat dull: there would 
 then have been a justifiable word for ennui 
 in all languages; at present smwmms simply 
 inanity or stupidity. — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 June Twenty-third. 
 
 T^T'HY, my soul, art thou perplexed ? 
 Why with faithless trouble vexed ? 
 Hope in God, whose saving name 
 Thou shalt joyfully proclaim. 
 When His countenance shall shine 
 Through the clouds that darken thine. 
 
 Why, my soul, art thou dismayed ? 
 Why of earth or hell afraid ? 
 Trust in God; — disdain to yield. 
 While o'er thee He casts His shield. 
 And His countenance divine 
 Sheds the light of heaven on thine. 
 
 —James Montgomery. 
 99 
 
June Twenty-fourth. 
 
 T^AST thou never in straits before, and 
 did He not deliver thee ? Arise, go to 
 the river of thine experience, and pull up a 
 few bulrushes, and plait them into an ark, 
 wherein thine infant-faith may float safely on 
 the stream. Forget not what thy God has 
 done for thee; turn over the book of thy 
 remembrance, and consider the days of old. 
 Canst thou not remember the hill Mizar ? 
 Did the Lord never meet with thee at 
 Hermon? Hast thou never climbed the 
 Delectable Mountains ? Hast thou never 
 been helped in time of need ? Nay, I know 
 thou hast. Go back, then, a little way to 
 the choice mercies of yesterday, and though 
 all may be dark now, light up the lamps of 
 the past; they shall glitter through the dark- 
 ness, and thou shalt trust in the Lord till the 
 day break and the shadows flee away. 
 
 — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 June Twenty-Jifth. 
 
 IIJAVE hope. Though clouds environ now 
 
 And gladness hides her face in scorn. 
 Put thou the shadow from thy brow — 
 No night but hath its morn. 
 
 — Schiller. 
 
 100 
 
June Twenty-sixth. 
 
 A LMIGHTY God, Thou, who alone canst 
 see the whole extent of our misery, canst 
 alone cure it. Give us, we implore Thee, the 
 faith, the hope, the love, the Christian 
 courage that we need. Enable us ever to 
 raise our eyes to Thee, the all-powerful, who 
 wilt give to Thy children only what is for 
 their everlasting good, and to Jesus Christ 
 Thy Son, who is our example in suffering. 
 Raise our hearts, O our Father; make them 
 like His, that they may be self-denying, and 
 may fear only Thy displeasure and eternal 
 sorrow. O Lord, Thou seest the weakness 
 and desolation of the creature of Thy hands. 
 It has no resource in itself; it wants every- 
 thing, and seeks in Thee with confidence the 
 good it cannot find elsewhere. — F^nelon. 
 
 June Twenty-seventh. 
 
 COW love, and taste its fruitage pure; 
 
 Sow peace, and reap its harvest bright; 
 Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor. 
 And reap a harvest-home of light. 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 101 
 
June Twenty-eighth. 
 "\T7'E ourselves make our fortunes good or 
 bad; and when God lets loose a tyrant 
 upon us, or a sickness, or scorn, or a lessened 
 fortune, if we fear to die, or know not to be 
 patient, or are proud, or covetous, then the 
 calamity sits heavy on us. But if we know 
 how to manage a noble principle, and fear 
 not death so much as a dishonest action, and 
 think impatience a worse evil than a fever, 
 and pride to be the biggest disgrace, and 
 poverty to be infinitely desirable before the 
 torments of covetousness; then we who now 
 think vice to be so easy, and make it so 
 familiar, and think the cure so impossible, 
 shall quickly be of another mind, and reckon 
 these accidents amongst things eligible. 
 
 — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 June Twenty-ninth. 
 
 TT is not that I'm happy. 
 It's not that I'm gay. 
 It's only that I am learning the way 
 Of living along from day to day, 
 Making the best of what is sent, — 
 Not happy, nor gay 
 But just content. 
 
 —P. C. Norton. 
 
 102 
 
June Thirtieth. 
 "IXT'HY shadow the beauty of sea or of land 
 
 With a doubt or a fear? 
 God holds all the swift-rolling worlds in His 
 
 hand, 
 And sees what no man can as yet understand, 
 That out of life here. 
 With its smile and its tear, 
 Comes forth into light, from eternity planned. 
 The soul of good cheer. 
 
 Don't worry — 
 The end shall appear. 
 
 — Elizabeth Porter Gould. 
 
 July First. 
 T ABOR to know that heaven is thy own 
 
 happiness. We may confess heaven to 
 be the best condition, though we despair of 
 enjoying it; and we may desire and seek it, 
 if we see the attainment but probable; but 
 we can never delightfully rejoice in it, till we 
 are in some measure persuaded of our title to 
 it. What comfort is it to a man that is 
 naked, to see the rich attire of others? 
 What delight is it for a man that hath not a 
 house to put his head in, to see the sumptu- 
 ous buildings of others ? — Richard Baxter. 
 
 103 
 
July Second. 
 
 pEACE, perfect peace, by thronging duties 
 
 pressed ? 
 To do the will of Jesus, this is rest. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging 
 
 round ? 
 On Jesus' bosom naught but calm is found. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far 
 
 away ? 
 In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and they. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown ? 
 Jesus we know, and He is on the throne. 
 
 — E. H. BiCKERSTETH. 
 
 July Third. 
 /^UTWARD prosperity cannot create in- 
 ward tranquillity. Heartsease is a 
 flower that never grew in the world's gar- 
 den. The ground of a wicked man's trouble 
 is not because he has not enough of the 
 creature, but because he cannot find enough 
 in the creature. His possession is great 
 enough, but his disposition is not good 
 enough. — Rev. William Secker. 
 
 104 
 
July Fourth. 
 npHE day of reappearing! how it speeds! 
 He wiio is true and faitiiful speaks the 
 word. 
 Then shall we ever be with those we love — 
 Then shall we be forever with the Lord. 
 
 Short death and darkness! Endless life and 
 light! 
 Short dimming; endless shining in yon 
 sphere, 
 Where all is incorruptible and pure; — 
 The joy without the pain, the smile with- 
 out the tear. 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 
 July Fifth. 
 
 "r\ESPAlR may be serviceable when it 
 arises from a temporary prostration of 
 spirits; during which the mind is insensibly 
 healing, and her scattered powers silently re- 
 turning. This is better than to be the sport 
 of a teasing hope without reason. But to in- 
 dulge in despair as a habit, is slothful, 
 cowardly, short-sighted; and manifestly 
 tends against nature. Despair is then the 
 paralysis of the soul. — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 105 
 
July Sixth. 
 
 vyHILE I am here, I will be a child at 
 home with my God. The whole 
 world shall be His house to me; and, when] 
 ascend into the upper chamber, I shall not 
 change my company, nor even change the 
 house. I shall only be in the upper story for- 
 ever. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 July Seventh. 
 
 TIT'HEN the morning is chilly and misty. 
 And clouds are gloomy and gray ; 
 Then, hey for a smile! 
 And ho for a smile! 
 To brighten a rainy day. 
 
 —Anna M. Pratt. 
 
 July Eighth. 
 
 npHERE are no chagrins so venomous as 
 the chagrins of the idle; there are no 
 pangs so sickening as the satieties of pleasure. 
 Nay, the bitterest and most enduring sorrow 
 may be borne through the burden and heat 
 of day bravely to the due time of death, by a 
 true worker. — John Ruskin. 
 
 106 
 
July Ninth. 
 
 JUST one day at a time, dear. 
 To trust God unafraid; 
 Just one day, not two, dear, 
 In which to be undismayed. 
 
 — Anna Maria Sohn. 
 
 July Tenth. 
 
 T ET us prepare our minds against changes, 
 always expecting them, that we be not 
 surprised when they come: for nothing is 
 so great an enemy to tranquillity and a con- 
 tented spirit as the amazement and confusion 
 of unreadiness and inconsideration ; and when 
 our fortunes are violently changed, our spirits 
 are unchanged if they always stood in the 
 suburbs and expectation of sorrows. " O 
 death, how bitter art thou to a man that is at 
 rest in his possessions!" And to the rich 
 man who had promised to himself ease and 
 fullness for many years, it was a sad arrest 
 that his soul was surprised the first night: 
 but the apostles, who every day knocked at 
 the gate of death, and looked upon it con- 
 tinually, went to their martyrdom in peace 
 and evenness. — Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 107 
 
July Eleventh. 
 
 A RT thou poor, yet hast thou golden slum- 
 -^ ber? 
 
 O sweet content! 
 Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed ? 
 
 O punishment! 
 Dost thou laugh to see how fools are vexed 
 To add to golden numbers, golden numbers ? 
 
 O sweet content! 
 Work apace, apace, apace, apace; 
 Honest labor bears a lovely face. 
 
 Canst drink the waters of the crisped spring ? 
 
 O sweet content! 
 Swimmest thou in wealth, yet sink'st in thine 
 own tears ? 
 O punishment! 
 Then he that patiently want's burden bears, 
 No burden bears, but is a king, a king! 
 O sweet content! 
 
 — Thomas Dekker. 
 
 July Twelfth. 
 
 T ET the man pray, and let God see to it 
 how to answer him. If in his childish- 
 ness and ignorance he should ask for a ser- 
 pent. He will not give him a serpent. But it 
 
 108 
 
may yet be the Father will find some way of 
 giving him his heart's desire. God only 
 knows how rich God is in power of gift. 
 See what He has done to make Himself able 
 to give to His own heart's desire. The giv- 
 ing of His son was as the knife with which 
 He would divide Himself among His chil- 
 dren. He knows, He only, the heart, the 
 needs, the deep desires, the hungry eternity, 
 of each of them all. Therefore let every 
 man ask of God, who giveth to all men 
 liberally and upbraideth not — and see at least 
 what will come of it. — George MacDonald. 
 
 A' 
 
 July Thirteenth. 
 LMIGHTY! Listen! I am dust. 
 Yet spirit am I, so I trust. 
 Let come what may of life or death, 
 I trust Thee with my sinking breath. 
 I trust Thee, though I see Thee not 
 In heaven or earth or any spot. 
 I trust Thee till I shall know why 
 There's one to live and one to die. 
 I trust Thee till Thyself shall prove 
 Thee Lord of life and death and love. 
 — Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. 
 109 
 
July Fourteenth. 
 
 TT is marvellous how one sweet word of 
 God will make whole songs for Chris- 
 tians. One word of God is like a piece of 
 gold, and the Christian is the gold-beater, and 
 can hammer that promise out for whole 
 weeks. So, then, poor Christian, thou need- 
 est not sit down in despair. Go to the Com- 
 forter, and ask Him to give thee consolation. 
 Thou art a poor dry well. You have heard 
 it said, that when a pump is dry, you must 
 pour water down it first of all, and then you 
 will get water; and so, Christian, when thou 
 art dry, go to God, ask Him to shed 
 abroad His joy in thy heart, and then thy joy 
 shall be full. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 July Fifteenth. 
 
 ■XXTHO seeks for heaven alone to save his 
 
 soul. 
 May keep the path, but will not reach the 
 
 goal; 
 While he who walks in love may wander 
 
 far. 
 But God will bring him where the Blessed 
 
 are. 
 
 — Henry Van Dyke. 
 
 110 
 
July Sixteenth. 
 'T'HE little sharp vexations 
 
 And the briars that catch and fret. 
 Why not take all to the Helper 
 Who has never failed us yet ? 
 
 Tell Him about the heartache. 
 And tell Him the longings, too; 
 
 Tell Him the baffled purpose 
 
 When we scarce knov\^ what to do. 
 
 Then, leaving all our weakness 
 With the One divinely strong. 
 
 Forget that we bore the burden. 
 And carry away the song. 
 
 — Phillips Brooks. 
 
 July Seventeenth. 
 r^UT in an air where fresh breezes blow 
 Away all the cobwebs that sometimes 
 grow 
 In the brains of those who turn from the 
 
 light 
 To all gloomy thoughts instead of the bright. 
 Contend with such foes and put them to 
 rout; 
 
 Get out! 
 
July Eighteenth. 
 
 "\T7HEN troubles come, it is of no use to fly 
 in the face of God by hard thoughts 
 of providence; that is Icicking against the 
 pricks and hurting your feet. The trees bow 
 in the wind, and so must we. Every time 
 the sheep bleats it loses a mouthful, and 
 every time we complain we miss a blessing. 
 Grumbling is a bad trade, and yields no 
 profit, but patience has a golden hand. Our 
 evils will soon be over. After rain comes 
 clear shining; black crows have wings; 
 every winter turns to spring; every night 
 breaks into morning. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 July Nineteenth. 
 
 'T'HOLI sweet, beloved will of God, 
 
 My anchor-ground and fortress-hill, 
 My spirit's silent, fair abode. 
 In thee I hide me and am still. 
 
 O will, thou wiliest good alone; 
 
 Lead thou the way, thou guidest best; 
 A little child, 1 follow on. 
 
 And, trusting, lean upon thy breast. 
 
 — Madame Guyon. 
 
 112 
 
July Twentieth. 
 '"pHERE'S a fount about to stream. 
 There's a light about to beam. 
 There's a warmth about to glow, 
 There's a flower about to blow; 
 There's a midnight blackness changing 
 
 Into gray; 
 Men of thought and men of action, 
 Clear the way! 
 
 — Charles Mackay. 
 
 July Twenty-first. 
 
 'T'HE rewards of virtue are certain, and our 
 provisions for our natural support are 
 certain: or if we want meat till we die, then 
 we die of that disease — and there are many 
 worse than to die with an atrophy or con- 
 sumption, or unapt and coarser nourishment. 
 But he that suffers a transporting passion 
 concerning things within the power of others, 
 is free from sorrow and amazement no longer 
 than his enemy shall give him leave; and it 
 is ten to one but he shall be smitten then and 
 there where it shall most trouble him ; for so 
 the adder teaches us where to strike, by her 
 curious and fearful defending of her head. 
 
 — Jeremy Taylor. 
 U3 
 
July Twenty-second. 
 
 " T WILL be their God." If this do not 
 -* make thine eyes sparkle, and thy heart 
 beat high with bliss, then assuredly thy 
 soul is not in a healthy state. But thou 
 wantest more than present delights — thou 
 cravest something concerning which thou 
 mayest exercise hope ; and what more canst 
 thou hope for than the fulfillment of this 
 great promise, " I will be their God " ? This 
 is the masterpiece of all the promises; its en- 
 joyment makes a heaven below, and will 
 make a heaven above. Dwell in the light of 
 thy Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished 
 with His love. Get out the marrow and fat- 
 ness which this portion yields thee. Live up 
 to thy privileges, and rejoice with unspeak- 
 able joy. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 July Twenty-third. 
 
 r\ LOVE, Thy sovereign aid impart 
 
 To save me from low-thoughted care; 
 Chase this self-will through all my heart, 
 
 Through all its latent mazes there; 
 Make me Thy duteous child, that I 
 Ceaseless may " Abba, Father," cry. 
 
 — Tersteegen. 
 
July Twenty-fourth. 
 
 "\X^HEN I consider how my light is spent 
 Ere half my days, in this dark world 
 
 and wide. 
 And that one talent which is death to 
 hide 
 Lodged with me useless, though my soul 
 
 more bent 
 To serve therewith my Maker, and present 
 My true account, lest He, returning, 
 
 chide; 
 "Doth God exact day-labor, light 
 denied?" 
 I fondly ask: but Patience, to prevent 
 That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not 
 need 
 Either man's work or His own gifts; 
 
 who best 
 Bear His Mild yoke, they serve Him 
 best; His state 
 Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed 
 
 And post o'er land and ocean without 
 
 rest;" 
 They also serve who only stand and 
 wait. 
 
 — John Milton. 
 
 115 
 
July Twenty-fifth. 
 
 TTTHAT would you say if, when school- 
 time came to-morrow morning, your 
 little boy, before he started with unwilling 
 feet to school, entered your larder and busied 
 himself in examining its contents, with es- 
 pecial reference to your provision for dinner ? 
 Would he not legitimately incur your dis- 
 pleasure? Would you not say, "Be off to 
 school, and leave me to care while you are 
 gone"? Would you not rebuke him for his 
 want of simple trust ? Oh, that we might 
 learn lessons from our babes, and believe that 
 life is one long residence in one of the man- 
 sions of our Father's home; and that the time 
 can never come when the table is quite bare, 
 and when there is nothing for our need! 
 — Rev. F. B. Meyer. 
 
 July Twenty-sixth. 
 
 r\ LORD, who knowest every need of 
 
 mine. 
 Help me to bear each cross, and not repine; 
 Grant me fresh courage every day. 
 Help me to do my work alway 
 Without complaint ! 
 
 — Annie B. Baldwin. 
 
 116 
 
July Twenty-seventh. 
 npHE soul loses command of itself, when it 
 is impatient. Whereas, when it sub- 
 mits, without a murmur, it possesses itself 
 in peace, and God is with it. To be im- 
 patient, is to desire what we have not, and 
 not to desire what we have. An impatient 
 soul is a prey to passions unrestrained, either 
 by reason or faith. What weakness, what 
 delusion! When we acquiesce in an evil, it 
 is no longer such. Why make a real calam- 
 ity 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 remain firm and submissive. 
 Peace in this life springs from acquiescence 
 even in disagreeable things, not in an ex- 
 emption from suffering. — Fenelon. 
 
 July Twenty-eighth. 
 V/TURMUR not at ups and downs. 
 
 They are needful changes ; 
 He can never err in aught 
 Who thy lot arranges. 
 Seek not as the highest good 
 Thy content and pleasure: 
 Wings have they to fly thee still — 
 Seek a better treasure. 
 
 117 
 
July Twenty-ninth. 
 
 13 EJOICE when thou dost see 
 
 God take thy things from thee; 
 Aye! the greater the loss 
 And the heavier the cross, 
 The greater the gain shall be. 
 When thy props are laid low, 
 And friend turns to foe, 
 'Tis but because now 
 God seeth that thou 
 No longer on crutches must go — 
 Each here 
 Whom He setteth alone 
 He Himself is most near. 
 
 July Thirtieth. 
 'T'HERE was a beautiful river; but the 
 river was very discontented, and made 
 even of its beauty a source of discontent. 
 
 It had a sore grievance. There was a canal 
 which, for a long way, went almost side by 
 side with the river, and at such a little distance 
 from it, that, on placid evenings, when even 
 the fluttering of winged insects makes a 
 gentle noise of joy, the river and the canal 
 could hear one another speaking. 
 
 "This straight hideous thing," exclaimed 
 
 118 
 
the river, "why do men forsake me for it, 
 stealing the water from me to feed its fright- 
 fulness ?" 
 
 "I may be hideous," replied the canal, 
 "and I certainly am straight; but then you 
 see I am always of the same depth, whereas 
 you brawl along, in a shallow way, over the 
 stones here; while, at the further reach, you 
 are deep enough to drown a giant. Now 
 men, and they are not to be blamed for it, 
 like what is of even depth and always service- 
 able." 
 
 The river murmured to itself something 
 about its unrecognized beauty and merit; but 
 did not make any distinct reply to the canal. 
 For it could not. — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 July Thirty-first. 
 
 TF you strike a thorn or rose. 
 
 Keep a-goin' ! 
 If it hails or if it snows. 
 
 Keep a-goin' ! 
 'Taint no use to sit and whine 
 When the fish ain't on your line; 
 Bait your hook an' keep on tryin' — 
 
 Keep a-goin' ! 
 
 119 
 
August First. 
 A RT thou weary, art thou languid, 
 
 Art thou sore distrest ? 
 "Come to me"— saith One— "and coming, 
 Be at rest ! " 
 
 August Second. 
 r) E convinced that heaven is the only treas- 
 ure and happiness, and labor to know 
 what a treasure and happiness it is. If thou 
 do not believe it to be the chief good, thou 
 wilt never set thy heart upon it; and this 
 conviction must sink into thy affections; for 
 if it be only a notion, it will have little effi- 
 cacy. As it is ignorance of the emptiness 
 of things below, that makes men so over- 
 value them ; so it is ignorance of the high de- 
 lights above, which is the cause that men so 
 little mind them. If you see a purse of gold, 
 and believe it to be but counters, it will not 
 entice your affections to it. As the Jews 
 killed the Messiah, while they waited for 
 Him, because they did not know Him; so the 
 world cries out for rest, and busily seeks for 
 delight and happiness, because they know it 
 not; for did they thoroughly know what it 
 is, they could not so slight the everlasting 
 treasure. — Richard Baxter. 
 
 120 
 
August Third. 
 
 O IGHT lovely is the world, O God, 
 
 And I will praise it ever. 
 While I look up from earth's green sod 
 
 To Thee, the General Giver! 
 Thy grace did rein my youthful will, 
 
 AH strength to Thee belongs. 
 And Thou, when hairs are gray, dost fill 
 The old man's breast with songs. 
 Shine, shine, O April bright. 
 And drive dull care away! 
 
 — ^JoHN Stuart Blackie. 
 
 August Fourth. 
 
 T DO verily believe that the world will 
 come, finally, to understand that God 
 paints the clouds and shapes the moss-fibres, 
 that men may be happy in seeing Him at 
 His work, and that in resting quietly beside 
 Him, and watching His working, and — ac- 
 cording to the power He has communicated 
 to ourselves, and the guidance He grants 
 — in carrying out His purposes of peace and 
 charity among all His creatures, are the only 
 real happinesses that ever were, or will be, 
 possible to mankind. — ^John Ruskin. 
 
 121 
 
August Fifth. 
 
 "V/fYcup runneth over." "He had not 
 only a fullness of abundance, but of 
 redundance. Those that have this happiness 
 must carry their cup upright, and see that it 
 overflow into their poor brethren's emptier 
 vessels. The showers that fall upon the 
 highest mountains should glide into the low- 
 est valleys. " The fact that you are a Christian 
 may without doubt assure you a safe en- 
 trance into heaven, but it may not mean that 
 you are much of a blessing to your friends 
 about you. God makes the life to overflow, 
 that other men's lives may be touched with 
 your power. For it is only the overflow of 
 your life that proves a blessing to your 
 friends and kindred. It is the overflow of 
 the Nile that makes the valley of the Nile 
 fruitful. — J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. 
 
 August Sixth. 
 '"pHOSE who think too highly of their own 
 deserts, will think too meanly of their 
 estates. It is ever the task of God to satisfy 
 the desires of men. He can do everything, 
 but they are not pleased with anything. 
 There is no man but what has received 
 
 123 
 
more good than he has deserved, and done 
 more evil than has been inflicted: he should 
 therefore be contented, though he see but 
 little good ; and not discontented, though he 
 suffer much evil. — Rev. William Secker. 
 
 I 
 
 August Seventh. 
 
 F I have faltered more or less 
 In my great task of happiness; 
 If I have moved among my race, 
 And shown no glorious morning face; 
 If beams from happy human eyes 
 Have moved me not; if morning skies. 
 Books, and my food, and summer rain. 
 Knocked on my sullen heart in vain — 
 Lord, Thy most pointed pleasure take. 
 And stab my spirit broad awake. 
 
 — Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 
 August Eighth. 
 
 ALWAYS, everywhere, forever, sorrow 
 obeys Him. Always it is His instru- 
 ment and conforms to His laws, and does His 
 work. And this work is salvation. It is the 
 destruction of sorrow by destroying the 
 causes of sorrow; it is the giving to man 
 the Peace of God. — Theophilus Par§ON§, 
 123 
 
August Ninth. 
 r\ SOUND the grand symphony down 
 
 through the years ! 
 The ages are climbing away from their biers! 
 Christ came, by the portal — mortality's 
 
 womb — 
 And opened, towards heaven, the gates of the 
 
 tomb! 
 There's a tidal uplifting — hope cleaving — faith 
 
 hears 
 The building of mansions, for us, in the 
 spheres! 
 
 — Charlotte Grant MacIntyre. 
 
 August Tenth. 
 
 CEMPRONIUS complained of want of 
 clothes, and was much troubled for a 
 new suit, being ashamed to appear in the 
 theatre with his gown a little threadbare : 
 but when he got it, and gave his old clothes 
 to Codrus, the poor man was ravished with 
 joy, and went and gave God thanks for his 
 new purchase; and Codrus was made richly 
 fine and cheerfully warm by that which Sem- 
 pronius was ashamed to wear: and yet their 
 natural needs were both alike; the difference 
 
 134 
 
only was that Sempronius had some artificial 
 and fantastical necessities superinduced, 
 which Codrus had not, and was harder to be 
 relieved, and could not have joy at so cheap 
 a rate, because he only lived according 
 to nature, the other by pride and ill customs, 
 and measures taken by other men's eyes and 
 tongues, and artificial needs. He that pro- 
 pounds to his fancy things greater than him- 
 self or his needs, and is discontent and 
 troubled when he fails of such purchases, 
 ought not to accuse providence, or blame his 
 fortune, but his folly. God and nature made 
 no more needs than they mean to satisfy; 
 and he that makes more must look for satis- 
 faction where he can. — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 August Eleventh. 
 
 TT is not that I feel less weak, but Thou 
 Wilt be my strength; it is not that 1 see 
 
 Less sin, but there is pardoning love with. 
 Thee, 
 
 And all-sufficient grace. Enough! And now 
 
 I do not think or pray, I only rest. 
 
 And feel that Thou art near, and know that I 
 am blest. 
 
 — Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 
 125 
 
August Twelfth. 
 
 "VTAY, do not wrong Him by thy heavy 
 thoughts, 
 
 But love His love. 
 Do thou full justice to His tenderness, 
 
 His mercy prove; 
 Take Him for what He is, O take Him all. 
 
 And look above! 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 
 August Thirteenth. 
 
 'X'O be poor is not always pleasant, but 
 worse things than that happen at sea. 
 Small shoes are apt to pinch, but not if you 
 have a small foot; if we have little means it 
 will be well to have little desires. Poverty is 
 no shame, but being discontented with it is. 
 In some things the poor are better off than 
 the rich ; for if a poor man has to seek meat 
 for his stomach, he is more likely to get 
 what he is after than the rich man who seeks 
 a stomach for his meat. It is not how much 
 we have, but how much we enjoy, that 
 makes happiness. It is not the quantity of 
 our goods, but the blessing of God on what 
 we have that makes us truly rich. 
 
 — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 186 
 
August Fourteenth. 
 /^UT of myself, dear Lord, 
 ^^ Oh, lift me up! 
 No more I trust myself in life's dim maze. 
 Sufficient to myself in all its devious ways 
 I trust no more, but humbly at Thy throne 
 Pray, "Lead me, for I cannot go alone." 
 
 August Fifteenth. 
 ■p'NJOY the present, whatsoever it be, and 
 be not solicitous for the future; for if 
 you take your foot from the present standing, 
 and thrust it forward towards to-morrow's 
 event, you are in a restless condition : it is 
 like refusing to quench your present thirst by 
 fearing you shall want drink the next day. 
 If it be well to-day, it is madness to make 
 the present miserable by fearing it may be ill 
 to-morrow — when your belly is full of to- 
 day's dinner, to fear you shall want the next 
 day's supper; for it may be you shall not, 
 and then to what purpose was this day's 
 affliction ? But if to-morrow you shall want, 
 your sorrow will come time enough, though 
 you do not hasten it; let your trouble tarry 
 till its own day comes. — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 127 
 
August Sixteenth. 
 
 TJI E ART, heart, awake ! The love that lo veth 
 all 
 Maketh a deeper calm than Horeb's cave; 
 God in thee, can His children's folly gall ? 
 Love may be hurt, but shall not love be 
 brave? — 
 Thy holy silence sinks in dews of balm; 
 Thou art my solitude, my mountain calm. 
 — George MacDonald. 
 
 August Seventeenth. 
 
 "^OTHING is done on earth or in heaven, 
 but by the will or by the permission of 
 God; yet men do not desire this will, but 
 inasmuch as it promotes their own wishes. 
 Let us desire that His will be done, and only 
 His, and we shall make a heaven of earth. 
 We must thank God for everything, for evil 
 as well as good things; for evil becomes good 
 when He sends it. We must not murmur at 
 the conduct of His providence; we shall find 
 it is all in wisdom, and adore it. O God, 
 what do 1 see in the course of the stars, in 
 the order of the seasons, but Thy will which 
 they accomplish? Let it also be fulfilled in 
 my soul. — Fenelon. 
 
 128 
 
August Eighteenth. 
 
 'X'HE dark hath many dear avails; 
 
 The dark distills divinest dews; 
 The dark is rich with nightingales, 
 With dreams, and with the heavenly Muse. 
 — Sidney Lanier. 
 
 August Nineteenth. 
 
 npHOUGH hearts brood o'er the past, our 
 eyes 
 
 With smiling futures glisten ! 
 For, lo ! where day bursts up the skies : 
 
 Lean out your souls, and listen ! 
 The world is rolling Freedom's way, 
 
 And ripening with her sorrow. 
 Take heart ! Who bear the cross to-day 
 
 Shall wear the crown to-morrow. 
 
 — Gerald Massey. 
 
 August Twentieth. 
 
 TXT'HERE we pitch our nightly tent 
 
 Surely matters not; 
 If the day for Thee is spent, 
 
 Blessed is the spot; 
 Quickly we the tent may fold, 
 Cheerful march through storm and cold. 
 With Thy care. 
 12» 
 
August Twenty-first. 
 
 "\/l/'HAT a serene and quiet life you might 
 lead if you would leave providing to 
 the God of Providence! With a little oil in 
 the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, 
 Elijah outlived the famine, and you will do 
 the same. If God cares for you, why need 
 you care too ? Can you trust Him for your 
 soul, and not for your body ? He has never 
 refused to bear your burdens, He has never 
 fainted under their weight. Come, then, 
 soul! have done with fretful care, and leave 
 all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious 
 God. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 August Twenty-second. 
 
 /^'ER all the transient things of time 
 
 The oblivious foot of years hath trod; 
 But all that's sacred and sublime 
 Stands steadfast as the truth of God. 
 
 — ^JOHN BOWRING. 
 
 August Twenty-third. 
 
 ■\X7'E ought to be as cheerful as we can, if 
 
 only because to be happy ourselves is 
 
 a most effectual contribution to the happiness 
 
 of others. There is no doubt some selfish 
 
 130 
 
satisfaction in yielding to melancholy; in 
 brooding over grievances, especially if more 
 or less imaginary; in fancying that we are 
 victims of fate. To be bright and cheerful 
 often requires an effort; there is a certain art 
 in keeping ourselves happy; in this respect, as 
 in others, we require to watch over and 
 manage ourselves almost as if we were some- 
 body else. — Sir John Lubbock. 
 
 August Twenty-fourth. 
 TDELIEVE me, friend, essential worth 
 
 Is heaven's most precious gift to earth. 
 Howe'er men measure. 
 The humble heart that loves its lot. 
 Does well its part, and envies not. 
 Hath time's best treasure. 
 
 — ^James Buckham. 
 
 August Twenty-fifth. 
 T WILL go forth 'mong men, not mailed in 
 
 scorn. 
 But in the armor of a pure intent. 
 Great duties are before me, and great songs. 
 And whether crowned or crownless when 1 
 
 fall. 
 It matters not, so as God's work is done. 
 — Alexander Smith. 
 
 131 
 
August Twenty-sixth. 
 
 ""II^ILL you pull back the curtains, 
 mamma ?" he said, 
 
 " There's a beautiful moon to-night, 
 And 1 want to lie right here in my bed 
 
 And watch it so yellow and bright." 
 
 So I tried to arrange the curtains and bed 
 For the dear little laddie of mine. 
 
 "Can you see it now?" "No," he cheer- 
 fully said, 
 "But I can see its beautiful shine." 
 
 Dear baby! his innocent answer I prize; 
 
 It is full of a meaning divine. 
 When the bright things we wish drift away 
 from our eyes. 
 May not we, too, rejoice in their "shine" ? 
 — Bessie Chandler. 
 
 August Twenty-seventh. 
 
 COME one has said that where there is 
 a shadow there must be a light some- 
 where, and so there is. Death stands by the 
 side of the highway in which we have to 
 travel, and the light of heaven shining upon 
 him throws a shadow across our path. Let 
 us then rejoice that there is a light beyond. 
 
 132 
 
Nobody is afraid of a sliadow, for a shadow 
 cannot stop a man's pathway even for a 
 moment. The shadow of a dog cannot 
 bite; the shadow of a sword cannot Itill; the 
 shadow of death cannot destroy us. Why 
 therefore should we be afraid ? 
 
 — J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. 
 
 August Twenty-eighth. 
 
 T KNOW that, whatever of sorrow 
 
 Or pain or temptation befall. 
 The infinite Master has suffered. 
 
 And knoweth and pitieth all. 
 So tell me the sweet, old story. 
 
 That falls on each wound like a balm. 
 And my heart that was bruised and broken 
 
 Shall grow patient and strong and calm. 
 
 August Twenty-ninth. 
 
 'TPAKE it as you find it — 
 
 Black or beaming sky. 
 Smile and never mind it — 
 Little time to sigh. 
 
 Fast the clouds are creeping 
 
 Over heavens of blue. 
 Little time for weeping — 
 
 Skies 'II weep for you! 
 133 
 
August Thirtieth. 
 
 r\ISAPPOINTMENT, His appointment; 
 
 Change one letter, tiien I see 
 That the thwarting of my purpose 
 
 Is God's better choice for me. 
 His appointment must be blessing, 
 
 Though it may come in disguise, 
 For the end from the beginning 
 
 Open to His wisdom lies. 
 
 August Thirty-first. 
 T DO not know that there is anything that 
 one could implant in a young person's 
 mind which would tend more, both to make 
 his fortune, and to make him happy, than a 
 belief that people mostly spoke well of him 
 behind his back. This notion would suit all 
 dispositions, and would make the best of 
 them. It would delight the vain, rejoice the 
 affectionate, neutralize the quarrelsome, and 
 not be displeasing even to the proud. But 
 would it be true ? To a considerable extent 
 it would. There is a certain amount of ill- 
 natured speech (medisance the French aptly 
 call it) to which all alike are liable, in their 
 absence. It is the exact opposite to polite- 
 
 134 
 
ness. Even your brothers and sisters do not 
 say the things to your face which everybody 
 says or admits behind your back. But after 
 this (except in the case of the great, the pow- 
 erful, the distinguished, or the famous — who 
 are almost always calumniated) there is not 
 much extra ill-natured speech about men be- 
 hind their backs — not a hundredth part so 
 much as sensitive people and young people 
 fancy. — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 September First. 
 
 T ET us not be governed by external, and 
 present, and seeming things; nor let us 
 make the same judgment of things that com- 
 mon and weak understandings do; nor make 
 other men, and they not the wisest, to be 
 judges of our felicity, so that we be happy 
 or miserable as they please to make us: but 
 let reason, and experience, and religion, and 
 hope relying on the divine promises, be the 
 measure of our judgment. No wise man 
 did ever describe felicity without virtue; and 
 no good man did ever think virtue could de- 
 pend upon the variety of a good or bad for- 
 tune. It is no evil to be poor, but to be 
 vicious and impatient. — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 135 
 
September Second. 
 CO shall I quiet my heart, so shall I keep it 
 '^ still, 
 So shall 1 hush its tremulous start at tidings 
 
 of good or ill; 
 So shall 1 silence my soul with a peacefulness 
 
 deep and broad, 
 So shall I gather divirie control in the infinite 
 
 quiet of God. 
 
 September Third. 
 
 r\ HEART of mine, be patient! 
 
 Some glad day 
 With all life's puzzling problems 
 
 Solved for aye; 
 With all its storms and doubting 
 
 Cleared away ; 
 With all its little disappointments past. 
 It shall be thine to understand at last. 
 
 September Fourth. 
 
 VX/'E are in the world lil<e men playing at 
 tables; the chance is not in our power, 
 but to play it is; and when it is fallen we 
 must manage it as we can: and let nothing 
 trouble us, but when we do a base action, or 
 speak like a fool, or think wickedly, — these 
 
 136 
 
things God hath put into our powers; but 
 concerning those things which are wholly in 
 the choice of another, they cannot fall under 
 our deliberation, and therefore neither are 
 they fit for our passions. — Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 September Fifth. 
 
 "P\ARK is the memory of the past. 
 
 Dark the approaching days to come; 
 And darker yet the shades which cast 
 O'er passing hours their present gloom. 
 
 When shall that thickening gloom disperse, 
 God's heavenly sunshine breaking through ? 
 
 When shall the glorious universe 
 Wear cheerful robes and smile anew .? 
 
 O, if distrust, and if despair 
 
 Usurp the sceptre of the soul. 
 How should God's brightness enter there, 
 
 To comfort, counsel, and control ? 
 
 But let thy heart the thoughts dismiss, 
 Which doubt, or censure, or complain. 
 
 And soon a very tide of bliss 
 Shall rush into that heart again. 
 
 — John Bowring. 
 
 137 
 
September Sixth,. 
 
 "^EVER look sad — nothing's so bad 
 As getting familiar with sorrow; 
 Treat him to-day in a cavalier way, 
 And he'll seek other quarters to-morrow. 
 
 Long you'll not weep, would you but peep 
 
 At the bright side of every trial; 
 Fortune you'll find is often most kind 
 
 When chilling your hopes with denial. 
 — T. H. Bayley. 
 
 September Seventh. 
 
 TTTTHEN the north wind blows hard, and 
 it rains sadly, none but fools sit down 
 in it and cry; wise people defend themselves 
 against it with a warm garment, or a good 
 fire and a dry roof. When a storm of a sad 
 mischance beats upon our spirits, turn it into 
 some advantage by observing where it can 
 serve another end, either of religion or pru- 
 dence, of more safety or less envy: it will 
 turn into something that is good, if we list 
 to make it so; at least it may make us weary 
 of the world's vanity, and take off our con- 
 fidence from uncertain riches, and make our 
 spirits to dwell in those regions where con- 
 
 138 
 
tent dwells essentially. If it does any good 
 to our souls, it hath made more than suffi- 
 cient recompense for all the temporal afflic- 
 tion. — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 September Eighth. 
 COME skies may be gloomy. 
 
 Some moments be sad. 
 But everywhere, always, 
 
 Some souls must be glad; 
 For true is the saying 
 Proclaimed by the seer — 
 " Each day is the best day 
 Of somebody's year! " 
 
 — Priscilla Leonard. 
 
 I 
 
 September Ninth. 
 
 F the extent of the human view could com- 
 prehend the whole frame of the universe, 
 perhaps it would be found invariably true, 
 that Providence has given that in greatest 
 plenty which the condition of life makes of 
 the greatest use; and that nothing is penuri- 
 ously imparted, or placed far from the reach 
 of men, of which a more liberal distribution, 
 or more easy acquisition, would increase real 
 and rational felicity. — Samuel Johnson. 
 
 139 
 
September Tenth. 
 IMPATIENT people water their miseries and 
 hoe up their comforts; sorrows are visit- 
 ors that come without invitation, but com- 
 plaining minds send a wagon to bring their 
 troubles home in. Many people are born 
 crying, live complaining, and die disap- 
 pointed; they chew the bitter pill which they 
 would not even know to be bitter if they had 
 the sense to swallow it whole in a cup of 
 patience and water. — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 September Eleventh. 
 CTILL will we trust though earth seem dark 
 
 and dreary 
 And the heart faint beneath His chastening 
 
 rod; 
 Though rough and steep our pathway, worn 
 and weary 
 Still will we trust in God! 
 
 Choose for us, God! nor let our weak pre- 
 ferring 
 Cheat our poor souls of good Thou hast de- 
 signed; 
 Choose for us, God! Thy wisdom is unerr- 
 ing, 
 And we are fools and blind. 
 
 140 
 
September Twelfth. 
 
 ^VVTWY not leave them all with Jesus, 
 
 All thy cares, 
 AH the things that fret thee daily. 
 
 Earth's affairs ? 
 Pour out all thy sin and longing ; 
 
 He has felt 
 Need of human love as thou hast, 
 
 And has knelt 
 At His Father's feet imploring 
 
 For the day 
 Strength to guard against temptation 
 
 By the way. 
 
 September Thirteenth. 
 
 IXT'ERE it possible to put those things 
 asunder which God Himself hath joined 
 together, a Christian would rather be holy 
 without any happiness, than happy without 
 any holiness. Luther had this expression, 
 "I had rather be in hell with Christ, than in 
 heaven without Christ." Indeed, hell itself 
 would be a heaven if God were in it, and 
 heaven would be a hell if God were from it. 
 — Rev. William Secker. 
 
 141 
 
September Fourteenth. 
 
 r\? all the trials of faith that as yet I have 
 had to pass through, this was the great- 
 est; and, by God's abundant mercy, I own it 
 to His praise, I was enabled to delight myself 
 in the will of God; for 1 felt perfectly sure 
 that if the Lord took this beloved daughter, it 
 would be best for her parents, best for her- 
 self, and more for the glory of God than if 
 she lived : this better part I was satisfied with ; 
 and thus my heart had peace, perfect peace, 
 and I had not a moment's anxiety. Thus 
 would it be under all circumstances, however 
 painful, were the believer exercising faith. 
 : — George Muller. 
 
 September Fifteenth. 
 
 V\7'HAT'S the use of worrying. 
 Of hurrying 
 And scurrying. 
 Everybody flurrying. 
 
 And breaking up their rest? 
 When every one is teaching us, 
 Preaching and beseeching us, 
 To settle down and end the fuss. 
 For quiet ways are best. 
 
 142 
 
September Sixteenth. 
 
 OLING thou to Faith beyond the forms of 
 
 ^ Faith. 
 
 She reels not in the storm of warring 
 
 words, 
 She sees the Best that glimmers through the 
 
 Worst, 
 She feels the sun is hid but for a night. 
 She spies the summer through tlie winter 
 
 bud. 
 She tastes the fruit before the blossom 
 
 falls. 
 She hears the lark within the songless egg, 
 She finds the fountain where they wailed, 
 
 "Mirage!" 
 And lay thine uphill shoulder to the wheel. 
 And climb the Mount of Blessing, whence, if 
 
 thou 
 Look higher, then — perchance — thou mayest 
 
 — beyond 
 A hundred ever-rising mountain lines. 
 And past the range of Night and Shadows 
 
 see 
 The high-heaven dawn of more than mortal 
 
 day 
 Strike on the Mount of Vision ! 
 
 — Alfred Tennyson. 
 
 143 
 
September Seventeenth. 
 
 /^OD hath appointed one remedy for all the 
 evils in the world, and that is a con- 
 tented spirit: for this alone makes a man pass 
 through fire, and not be scorched; through 
 seas, and not be drowned; through hunger 
 and nakedness, and want nothing. For since 
 all the evil in the world consists in the disa- 
 greeing between the object and the appetite, 
 as when a man hath what he desires not, or 
 desires what he hath not, or desires amiss; he 
 that composes his spirit to the present acci- 
 dent, hath variety of instances for his virtue, 
 but none to trouble him, because his desires 
 enlarge not beyond his present fortune. 
 
 — Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 September Eighteenth. 
 
 TT is said that when Nansen, the explorer, 
 went to the Arctic regions, he took with 
 him a phonograph into which he had had his 
 wife, a most accomplished musician, sing her 
 sweetest songs, and into which also his litde 
 children had talked a message to him; and, 
 when he was in the frozen seas of the north, 
 and the nights were dark, and his heart was 
 almost broken because of a sense of loneli- 
 
 144 
 
ness, he would start the phonograph, and 
 hear again the music of his home, which 
 would make his heart rejoice. With all due 
 reverence for the word of God, it is like His 
 phonograph to us. Into it He has talked mes- 
 sages of peace and promises of blessings, 
 and one could not go on believing that he 
 was led by the Spirit and controlled by Christ 
 without all the time being filled with joy in 
 the study of this book. 
 
 — J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. 
 
 September Nineteenth. 
 
 T HAVE found 'tis good to note 
 
 The blessing that is mine each day; 
 For happiness is vainly sought 
 In some dim future far away. 
 
 — Amelia E. Barr. 
 
 September Twentieth. 
 (CHRISTIAN! do not dishonor your religion 
 
 by always wearing a brow of care; 
 come, cast your burden upon the Lord. You 
 are staggering beneath a weight your Father 
 would not feel. What seems to you a crush- 
 ing burden, would be to Him but as the 
 small dust of the balance. 
 
 — C. H. Spurqeon. 
 
 145 
 
September Twenty-first. 
 CUPPOSE God were building a palace for 
 you, and had set up a scaffold upon 
 which He wanted you to help Him; would 
 it be reasonable in you to complain that you 
 didn't find the scaffold at all a comfortable 
 place to live in ? — that it was draughty and 
 cold ? This world is that scaffold ; and if you 
 were busy carrying stones and mortar for the 
 palace, you would be glad of all the cold to 
 cool the glow of your labor. 
 
 — George MacDonald. 
 
 September Twenty-second. 
 ■\^ITH toils and cares unending 
 
 Art beset ? 
 Bethink thee, how the storms from heaven 
 
 descending, 
 Snap the stiff oak, but spare the willow bend- 
 ing. 
 And bide a wee, and dinna fret. 
 
 September Twenty-third. 
 "SJOU have only to turn round, or to 
 swoon backward, and you will find 
 yourself caught in the arms of God's good- 
 ness and mercy, which are following you 
 
 146 
 
always. You may not realize that they are 
 near; you may feel lonely and sad and deso- 
 late ; it may be one of your bad days, sunless 
 and dreary, without a ray of comfort or a 
 flash of hope, surrounded by objects and 
 forms of dread. Yet there, close by you, 
 evident to God's angels, though veiled from 
 your faithless sight, stand the glorious, loving, 
 pitying forms of God's infinite goodness, 
 which cannot fail, and His tender mercy. 
 They will spread you a table in the desert as 
 they did for Elijah; or they will flash through 
 the storm and stand beside you, bidding you 
 fear not, as they did for Paul. 
 
 — Rev. F. B. Meyer. 
 
 September Twenty-fourth. 
 CIMPLE rule, and safest guiding. 
 
 Inward peace, and inward might. 
 Star upon our path abiding, — 
 "Trust in God, and do the right." 
 
 Some will hate thee, some will love thee. 
 Some will flatter, some will slight ; 
 
 Cease from man, and look above thee; 
 " Trust in God, and do the right." 
 
 — Norman Macleod. 
 
 147 
 
September Twenty- fifth. 
 
 ^OTHING to breathe but air; 
 Nothing to eat but food; 
 Nothing to wear but clothes, 
 To keep us from going nude. 
 
 Nothing to do but things; 
 
 Quick as a flash, they're gone! 
 Nowhere to fall but off; 
 
 Nowhere to sit but on; 
 
 Nothing to quench but a thirst; 
 
 Nowhere to sleep but in bed; 
 Nothing to have but what we've got; 
 
 Nothing to bury but dead. 
 
 Nothing to weep but tears, — 
 
 Ah me! Alas and alack! 
 Nowhere to go but out; 
 
 Nowhere to come but back. 
 
 Nothing to comb but our hair; 
 
 Nothing to wed but a wife. 
 Only to suffer and bear, — 
 
 What is the value of life ? 
 
 —Ben. King. 
 
 148 
 
T 
 
 September Twenty-sixth. 
 
 HE greater our dread of crosses, the more 
 necessary they are for us. Be not cast 
 down, when the hand of God is heavy upon 
 you. We must measure the greatness of our 
 evils by the violence of the remedies that the 
 Physician of souls thinks necessary for our 
 cure. St. Paul said, "I am nailed to the 
 cross with Jesus Christ." Let us pray for 
 His spirit and self-renunciation. What can 
 we suffer that He has not suffered ? Weak, 
 cowardly nature, be silent ; look at the Mas- 
 ter, and be ashamed to complain. Let thy 
 love to Him reconcile thee to thy cross; then, 
 though thou shalt suffer, it will be willingly. 
 
 — Fenelon. 
 
 September Twenty-seventh. 
 
 TN His own good time the clouds shall lift 
 and lighten; 
 Winter shall pass with stinging frost and 
 rime; 
 The night will fade, dawn and the day-star 
 brighten — 
 All in His own good time. 
 
 — Dora Read Goodale. 
 149 
 
September Twenty-eighth. 
 
 'T*HE Lord of men and angels was also the 
 king of sufferings; and if. thy coarse 
 robe trouble thee, remember the swaddling- 
 clothes of Jesus; if thy bed be uneasy, yet it 
 is not worse than His manger; and it is no 
 sadness to have a thin table, if thou callest to 
 mind that the king of heaven and earth was 
 fed with a little breast-milk; and yet, besides 
 this. He suffered all the sorrows which we 
 deserved. We, therefore, have great reason 
 to sit down upon our hearths, and warm our- 
 selves at our own fires, and feed upon con- 
 tent at home; for it were a strange pride to 
 expect to be more gently treated by the 
 Divine Providence than the best and wisest 
 men, than apostles and saints, nay, the Son 
 of the eternal God, the heir of both the 
 worlds. — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 September Twenty-ninth. 
 TT may be a commonplace thing to say, but 
 it has the charming truthfulness of com- 
 monplace, to say, that more than half the 
 difficulties of the world would be allayed or 
 removed by the exhibition of good temper. 
 In official or parliamentary life, most people, 
 
 150 
 
«5.- 
 
 who have had great experience, will tell you 
 that the main difficulty in accomplishing a 
 good work consists, not in the innate ardu- 
 ousness of the work itself, but in prevailing 
 over the humors and tempers of the men who 
 have to frame it, to consider it, and to bring 
 it into execution. Temper is not only, as the 
 good bishop (Wilson) said, "nine-tenths of 
 Christianity," but it constitutes nine-tenths of 
 secular success as well as of religious life. 
 — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 September Thirtieth. 
 'TpHE Lord is ever close and near 
 
 To those who keep His word; 
 Whene'er they cry to Him in fear. 
 Their prayer is surely heard; 
 He knoweth well who love Him well; 
 His love shall yet their clouds dispel, 
 And grant the hope deferred. 
 
 — Paul Gerhardt. 
 
 October First. 
 
 JOY to-day and grief to-morrow; 
 Blizzard, then a week of sun; 
 If we never had a sorrow. 
 Who'd know he was having fun > 
 
 151 
 
October Second. 
 
 /^UR times are in Thy hand, and Thou 
 
 Wilt guide our footsteps at Thy will: 
 Lord, to Thy purposes we bow. 
 Do Thou Thy purposes fulfill ! 
 
 Life's mighty waters roll along, 
 Thy spirit guides them as they roll; 
 
 And waves on waves impetuous throng 
 At Thy command, at Thy control. 
 
 Lord, we Thy children look to Thee, 
 And with an humble, prostrate will. 
 
 Find, in Thine all-sufficiency, 
 A claim to love and serve Thee still. 
 
 — ^JOHN BOWRING. 
 
 October Third. 
 
 TJNDER the shadow. 
 
 Shepherd and King, 
 Safe from all evil, 
 
 Under Thy wing. 
 Strangers and pilgrims. 
 
 Forward we move. 
 Calm in Thy keeping, 
 
 Strong in Thy love! 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 152 
 
j^!^ 
 
 October Fourth. 
 
 '"pHlS to-day and that to-morrow! 
 
 Ring the changes. Fate, at will! 
 Now a joy, and now a sorrow. 
 Gift of good or dole of ill. 
 
 This for now, and that for after! 
 
 Take it, make the best of each! 
 Both the msurning and the laughter 
 
 What we need to learn shall teach. 
 — L. Ormiston Chant. 
 
 October Fifth. 
 'TpHlS may be your last day upon earth. If 
 so, would your pace through the valley 
 be the same as your walk of yesterday ? 
 
 2. If " to live is Christ and to die is gain," 
 and your life is anything less than Christ, 
 then what will your death be ? 
 
 3. If the path of the just is as the shining 
 light that shineth more and more unto the 
 perfect day, then what is it that casts the 
 shadows on your path ? It must be some- 
 thing between you and the light. 
 
 4. If to-morrow should mark your en- 
 trance into glory, then live to-day as you 
 will wish you had when you see Him. 
 
 — J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. 
 153 
 
October Sixth. 
 CING, Christian, sing! De songs to earf 
 
 am giben, 
 Jus' de faintest echo ob dat comin' Heaben! 
 Sing, sinner, sing! De heart dat's filled wid 
 
 song 
 Can't be de hiding-place ob dat ole Satan 
 
 long. 
 Dat was de message de Lord sent down to 
 
 me, 
 By dat little singin' robin, out in de maple 
 tree. 
 
 — S. Reade Brocton. 
 
 October Seventh. 
 ■\17HEN one's flesh and bones are full of 
 aches and pains, it is as natural for us 
 to murmur as for a horse to shake his head 
 when the flies tease him, or a wheel to rattle 
 when a spoke is loose; but nature should 
 not be the rule with Christians, or what is 
 their religion worth ? If a soldier fights no 
 better than a ploughboy, off with his red 
 coat. We expect more fruit from an apple- 
 tree than from a thorn, and we have a right 
 to do so. The disciples of a patient Saviour 
 should be patient themselves. Grin and 
 
 154 
 
bear it is the old-fashioned advice, but sing 
 and bear it is a great deal better. After all, 
 we get very few cuts of the whip, consider- 
 ing what bad cattle we are; and when we 
 do smart a little, it is soon over. Pain past 
 is pleasure, and experience comes by it.. We 
 ought not to be afraid of going down into 
 Egypt when we know we shall come 
 out of it with jewels of silver and gold. 
 — C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
 October Eighth. 
 
 ■\X7'E think we have many important con- 
 cerns, but have really but one. If 
 that is attended to, all others will be done; 
 if that is wanting, all the rest, however suc- 
 cessful they may seem to be, will go to ruin. 
 Why then should we divide our hearts and 
 our occupations 7 Oh! thou sole business of 
 life, henceforth thou shalt have my undivided 
 attention. Cheered by the presence of God, 
 I will do at the moment, without anxiety, 
 according to the strength which He shall 
 give me, the work that His providence as- 
 signs me. 1 will leave the rest; it is not my 
 affair. — Fenelon. 
 155 
 
October Ninth. 
 A ND do not fear to hope. Can poet's brain 
 More than the Father's heart rich good 
 
 invent? 
 Each time we smell the autumn's dying 
 
 •scent, 
 We know the primrose time will come 
 
 again; 
 Not more we hope, nor less would soothe 
 
 our pain. 
 Be bounteous in thy faith, for not misspent 
 Is confidence unto the Father lent: 
 Thy need is sown and rooted for His rain. 
 His thoughts are as thine own; nor are His 
 
 ways 
 Other than thine, but by their loftier sense 
 Of beauty infinite and love intense. 
 Work on. One day, beyond all thought of 
 
 praise, 
 A sunny joy will crown thee with its rays; 
 Nor other than tliy need, thy recompense. 
 -^George MacDonald. 
 
 October Tenth. 
 
 npHE chief security against the fruitless 
 
 anguish of impatience must arise from 
 
 frequent reflection on the wisdom and good- 
 
 15Q 
 
ness of the God of nature, in whose hands 
 are riches and poverty, honor and disgrace, 
 pleasure and pain, and life and death. A 
 settled conviction of the tendency of every- 
 thing to our good, and of the possibility of 
 turning miseries into happiness by receiving 
 them rightly, will incline us to bless the name 
 of the Lord, whether He gives or takes away. 
 — Samuel Johnson. 
 
 October Eleventh. 
 
 " CTAY firm." Let not the future. 
 
 Though dim and drear. 
 
 Fill thee with dread foreboding 
 
 And anxious fear. 
 'Tis only thine to follow 
 Where He shall lead; 
 Thy Shepherd King provideth 
 For every need. 
 
 October Twelfth. 
 /^NE reason, at least, why men pass through 
 this world chafing, fretful, and dissatis- 
 fied with their lot in life, is just this: they 
 have formed an overweening estimate of 
 self, and tney find that neither God nor man 
 treats them as they think they deserve. 
 
 — F. W. Robertson. 
 
 X57 
 
October Thirteenth. 
 
 AN unquiet mind makes but a slow re- 
 covery. Contentment is the best food 
 to preserve a sound man, and the best medi- 
 cine to restore a sick man. It resembles the 
 gilt on nauseous pills, which makes a man 
 take them without tasting their bitterness. 
 Contentment will make a cottage look as fair 
 as a palace. He is not a poor man that hath 
 but little, but he is a poor man that wants 
 much. — Rev. William Secker. 
 
 October Fourteenth. 
 TX/'AS the trial sore .? 
 
 Temptation sharp? Thank God a 
 
 second time! 
 Why comes temptation but for man to meet 
 And master and make crouch beneath his 
 
 foot. 
 And so be pedestalled in triumph ? Pray 
 "Lead us into no such temptations. Lord!" 
 Yea, but O Thou, whose servants are the 
 
 bold. 
 Lead such temptations by the head and hair, 
 Reluctant dragons, up to who dares fight, 
 That so he may do battle and have praise! 
 Robert Browning. 
 
 158 
 
October Fifteenth. 
 
 ^ALM Soul of all things! make it mine 
 
 To feel, amid the city's jar, 
 That there abides a peace of Thine 
 
 Man did not make, and cannot mar. 
 The will to neither strive nor cry. 
 
 The power to feel with others, give! 
 Calm, calm me more; nor let me die 
 Before I have begun to live. 
 
 — Matthew Arnold. 
 
 October Sixteenth. 
 
 TLJE that threw a stone at a dog, and hit his 
 cruel stepmother, said, that although 
 he intended it otherwise, yet the stone was 
 not quite lost; and if we fail in the first de- 
 sign, if we bring it home to another equally 
 to content us, or more to profit us, then we 
 have put our conditions past the power of 
 chance; and this was called in the old Greek 
 coniedy, "a being revenged on fortune by 
 becoming philosophers," and turning the 
 chance into reason or religion: for so a wise 
 man shall overrule his stars, and have a greater 
 influence upon his own content than all the 
 constellations and planets of the firmament. 
 —Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 159 
 
October Seventeenth. 
 "SJO bounty of indulgent Heaven 
 
 The vague desire can stay; 
 Self-love is still a Tartar mill 
 For grinding prayers alway. 
 
 The dear God hears and pities all; 
 
 He knoweth all our wants; 
 And what we blindly ask of Him 
 
 His love withholds or grants. 
 
 —J. G. Whittier. 
 
 October Eighteenth. 
 TXT'OULD any man be Dives to have his 
 wealth, or Judas for his office, or Saul 
 for his kingdom, or Absalom for his beauty, 
 or Ahithophel for his policy ? It is likely he 
 would wish all these, and yet he would be 
 the same person still. For every man hath 
 desires of his own, and objects just fitted to 
 them, without which he cannot be, unless he 
 were not himself. And let every man that 
 loves himself so well as to love himself before 
 all the world, consider if he have not some- 
 thing for which in the whole he values him- 
 self far more than he can value any man 
 else. There is, therefore, no reason to take 
 the finest feathers from all the winged nation 
 
 160 
 
to deck that bird that thinks already she is 
 more valuable than any of the inhabitants of 
 the air. Either change all or none. Cease to 
 love yourself best, or be content with that 
 portion of being and blessing for which you 
 love yourself so well. — Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 October Nineteenth. 
 
 " VXT'HAT wouldst Thou have me do, O 
 
 ^^ Lord.?" 
 Think, little child — thy conscience try. 
 Rebellious deed and idle word, 
 And selfish thought and envious eye; 
 Hast thou no mark of these ? and yet 
 Full in thy sight His law was set. 
 Oh, if He joyed the Cross to bear. 
 With patience take thy little share. 
 
 — John Keble. 
 
 October Twentieth. 
 ■^"OW in what are you rightly happy? 
 Not in thinking of what you have done 
 yourself; not in your own pride; not your 
 own birth; not in your own being, or your 
 own will, but in looking at God; watching 
 what He does; what He is; and obeying His 
 law, and yielding yourself to His will. 
 
 —John Ruskin. 
 
 161 
 
October Twenty-first. 
 " tJE giveth quietness." O Elder Brother, 
 Whose homeless feet have pressed 
 our path of pain, 
 Whose hands have borne the burden of our 
 sorrow, 
 That in Thy losses we might find our gain, 
 
 Of all Thy gifts and infinite consolings 
 I ask but this : In every troubled hour 
 
 To hear Thy voice through all the tumult 
 stealing. 
 And rest serene beneath its tranquil power. 
 
 Cares cannot fret me if my soul be dwelling 
 In the still air of faith's untroubled day ; 
 
 Grief cannot shake me if 1 walk beside Thee, 
 My hand in Thine along the darkening way. 
 
 Content to know there comes a radiant morn- 
 ing 
 When from all shadows I shall find re- 
 lease : 
 Serene to wait the rapture of its dawning, 
 Who can make trouble when Thou sendest 
 peace ? 
 
 — Emily Huntington Miller. 
 
 162 
 
October Twenty-second. 
 'X*HIS world is a pretty good sort of a world, 
 
 Taking it all together; 
 In spite of the grief and sorrow we meet, 
 
 In spite of the gloomy weather. 
 There are friends to love and hopes to cheer. 
 
 And plenty of compensation 
 For every ache, for those who make 
 The best of the situation. 
 
 October Twenty-third. 
 VXT'HAT a disproportion there is between 
 what we endure here and what we 
 hope for in heaven! The first Christians 
 rejoiced without ceasing at the hope placed 
 before them ; for they believed that they saw 
 the heavens opening to them. The cross, 
 disgrace, punishment, the most cruel death, 
 could not discourage them. They trusted to 
 that infinite goodness, that would compensate 
 them for all their sufferings. They were 
 transported with joy at being counted worthy 
 to suffer; while we, cowardly spirits, cannot 
 endure, because we cannot hope; we are 
 overwhelmed by the least sorrow, and often 
 by those troubles that spring from our own 
 pride, or imprudence, or effeminacy. 
 
 — Fenelon. 
 
 163 
 
October Twenty-fourth. 
 
 r\^, let me show 
 
 The strong reality of gospel story ; 
 Oh, let me go 
 From strength to strength, from glory unto 
 glory; 
 Oh, let me sing 
 For very joy, because Thou art my King; 
 
 Oh, let me praise 
 Thy love and faithfulness through all my 
 days! 
 — Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 
 October Twenty-fifth. 
 
 A WISE man is placed in the variety of 
 chances, lilce the nave or centre of a 
 wheel, in the midst of all the circumvolutions 
 and changes of posture, without violence or 
 change, save that it turns gently in compli- 
 ance with its changed parts, and is indiffer- 
 ent which part is up, and which is down; 
 for there is some virtue or other to be exer- 
 cised, whatever happens, either patience or 
 thanksgiving, love or fear, moderation or 
 humility, charity or contentedness. 
 
 — Jeremy Taylor. 
 164 
 
October Twenty-sixth. 
 pOVER the fire, put out the lights, 
 
 The weary work of the day is done. 
 The shadows of night are on vale and heights. 
 We may sleep and rest till another sun. 
 
 Cover the fire, put out the lights. 
 The tasks of the year are over and done. 
 
 We have trodden our valleys, and climbed 
 our heights. 
 In life's hard fight we have lost or won. 
 
 Cover the fire, put out the lights. 
 Smile in the dark, when the day is done. 
 
 We are God's dear children, in days and nights, 
 And safe in His love our swift years run. 
 
 October Twenty-seventh. 
 ■V7"0U hear much of conversion nowadays: 
 but people always seem to think they 
 have got to be made wretched by conversion, 
 — to be converted to long faces. No, friends, 
 you have got to be converted to short ones; 
 you have to repent into childhood, to repent 
 into delight, and delightsomeness. ... It 
 is among children only, and as children only, 
 that you will find medicine for your healing 
 and true wisdom for your teaching. 
 
 — John Ruskin. 
 
 165 
 
October Twenty-eighth. 
 
 npHE bird that to the evening sings, 
 
 Leaves music when her song is ended; 
 A sweetness left which takes not wings. 
 But with each pulse of eve is blended; 
 Thus life involves a double light; 
 
 Our acts and words have many brothers; 
 The heart that makes its own delight, 
 Makes also a delight for others. 
 
 — Charles Swain. 
 
 W^ 
 
 October Twenty-ninth. 
 
 'E find it difficult to believe in that 
 almighty goodness that inflicts trials 
 on those whom it loves. Why, we say, 
 should it please God to make us suffer } Why 
 could He not make us good without making 
 us miserable ? Doubtless He could, for He is 
 all-powerful; the hearts of men are in His 
 hands, and He can turn them as He will. 
 But He, who could save us from sorrow, 
 has not chosen to do it; just as He has willed 
 that men should slowly grow from infancy to 
 manhood, instead of creating them at once in 
 maturity. We have only to be silent, and 
 adore His profound wisdom without compre- 
 hending it. Thus we see clearly, that we 
 
 166 
 
cannot be virtuous but in proportion as we 
 become humble, disinterested, trusting every- 
 thing to God, without any unquiet concern 
 about ourselves. — Fenelon. 
 
 October Thirtieth. 
 npHE only sure way to get rid of a past is by 
 getting a future out of it. I am sure it 
 would help us if we could only see that often 
 sin is a perversion of good; that, as is often 
 the case, the very sin came from a part of 
 our nature that God made — a sense of justice, 
 strong affections, or something that, if only 
 turned in the right direction, would have 
 made us whole. Don't think there is no 
 good in you; there is, or there would be 
 nothing to appeal to. — Phillips Brooks. 
 
 October Thirty-first. 
 
 VE doubts and fears that once we knew. 
 
 Ye bitter words of anger born ; 
 Ye thoughts unkind and deeds untrue. 
 
 Ye feelings of mistrust and scorn: 
 Against your memory we rebel — 
 
 We have outlived your foolish day; 
 No longer in our hearts you dwell — 
 Bygones! Bygones! pass away! 
 
 — Charles Mackay. 
 
 167 
 
November First. 
 T KNOW not by what methods rare, 
 
 But this I know: God answers prayer. 
 
 I know not when He sends the word 
 That tells us fervent prayer is heard. 
 
 I know it Cometh, soon or late; 
 Therefore we need to pray and wait. 
 
 I know not if the blessing sought 
 Will come in just the guise I thought. 
 
 I leave my prayers with Him alone 
 Whose will is wiser than my own. 
 
 November Second. 
 
 TT 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 do- 
 ings, not God's. He begs you to leave the 
 future to Him, and mind the present. What 
 more or what else could He do to take the 
 burden off you ? — George MacDonald. 
 
 168 
 
Ncroember Third. 
 
 CAY it over and over to-day, "He is my 
 sheplierd; He is my shepherd." This 
 little word will make a paradise of earth, and 
 fill with glory the home where you live and 
 the place where you work; in a word, it will 
 lift you up to the heavenlies. The water- 
 spider forms a sac-like cottage, and fills it 
 with air; then shuts herself in and sinks into 
 the sea. She then anchors it and there brings 
 forth her young. She practically lives in an 
 upper world, although surrounded by all the 
 dangers of the great deep. This is your 
 privilege, for this day and every day to live 
 in the very atmosphere of heaven while 
 working down here in the sin-tainted atmos- 
 phere of this world. 
 
 — J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. 
 
 November Fourth. 
 'TpHOU must lead me, and none other. 
 Truest Lover, Friend, and Brother. 
 Thou art my soul's shelter, whether 
 Stars gleam out or tempests gather; 
 In Thy presence night is day; 
 Show me Thy way! 
 
 — Lucy Larcom. 
 
 169 
 
November Fifth. 
 T ORD, grant us eyes to see, and ears to 
 hear, 
 And souls to love, and minds to under- 
 stand, 
 And steadfast faces towards the Holy Land, 
 And confidence of hope, and filial fear. 
 And citizenship where Thy saints appear 
 Before Thee heart in heart and hand in hand. 
 And alleluias where their chanting band 
 As waters and as thunders fill the sphere. 
 Lord, grant us what Thou wilt, and what 
 
 Thou wilt 
 Deny, and fold us in Thy peaceful fold: 
 Not as the world gives, gives to us Thine 
 own: 
 Inbuild us where Jerusalem is built 
 With wails of jasper and with streets of gold. 
 And Thou, Thyself, Lord Christ, for corner- 
 stone. 
 
 — Christina G. Rossetti. 
 
 November Sixth. 
 r^HlLDHOOD is cheerful. Putting its trust 
 in its father, it is careful for nothing — 
 being full of love to every creature, it is 
 happy always, whether in its play or its duty. 
 Well, that's the great worker's character 
 
 170 
 
also. Taking no thought for the morrow; 
 taking thought only for the duty of the day; 
 trusting somebody else to take care of to- 
 morrow; knowing indeed what labor is, but 
 not what sorrow is; and always ready for 
 play — beautiful play. — John Ruskin. 
 
 November Seventh. 
 
 npHE great end of prudence is to give 
 cheerfulness to those hours which 
 splendor cannot gild, and acclamation can- 
 not exhilarate — those soft intervals of un- 
 bended amusement, in which a man shrinks 
 to his natural dimensions, and throws aside 
 the ornaments or disguises which he feels, in 
 privacy, to be useful encumbrances, and to 
 lose all effect when they become familiar. 
 To be happy at home is the ultimate result of 
 all ambition ; the end to which every enter- 
 prise and labor tends, and of which every 
 desire prompts the prosecution. It is indeed 
 at home that every man must be known, by 
 those who would make a just estimate either 
 of his virtue or felicity; for smiles and em- 
 broidery are alike occasional, and the mind is 
 often dressed for show in painted honor, and 
 fictitious benevolence. — Samuel Johnson. 
 
 171 
 
November Eighth. 
 r\, WISE little birds, how do you know 
 
 The way to go, 
 Southward or northward, to and fro ? 
 
 Far up in the ether piped they : 
 
 "We but obey 
 One who calleth us far away. 
 
 " He calleth and calleth year by year, 
 
 Now there, now here; 
 Ever He maketh the way appear." 
 
 Dear little birds ! He calleth me 
 
 Who calleth ye: 
 Would that I might as trusting be! 
 
 — Harriet McEwen Kimball. 
 
 November Ninth. 
 
 pONTENTEDNESS in all estates is a duty 
 of religion; it is the great reasonable- 
 ness of complying with the Divine Provi- 
 dence, which governs all the world, and hath 
 so ordered us in the administration of His 
 great family. He were a strange fool that 
 should be angry because dogs and sheep need 
 no shoes, and yet himself is full of care to 
 get some. God hath supplied those needs to 
 
 172 
 
them by natural provisions, and to tiiee by 
 an artificial; for He hath given thee reason to 
 learn a trade, or some means to make or buy 
 them, so that it only differs in the manner of 
 our provision: and which had you rather 
 want, shoes or reason ? — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 November Tenth. 
 "P\EAR little bird with bright black eye. 
 
 If you but knew my eyes were kind, 
 How swift the pretty form would fly 
 Our shining porch-berries to find. 
 
 Dear little bird with fluttering heart, 
 If you but felt my heart was true. 
 
 That fairy figure soon would dart 
 To sheltering hand held out to you. 
 
 Dear little bird with glancing wing. 
 Did you but know I long to fly. 
 
 Perhaps you'd sit quite near and sing 
 To me in my captivity. 
 
 Dear human heart, be not afraid ; 
 
 Thy need of food, thy dream of flight. 
 He knows, by whom the worlds were made. 
 
 To speed thee on is His delight. 
 
 — Frances E. Willard. 
 
 173 
 
November Eleventh. 
 TT may be 1 am slighted, or I have re- 
 ceived ill language; but my head aches 
 not for it, neither hath it broke my thigh, 
 nor taken away my virtue, unless I lose my 
 charity or my patience. Inquire, therefore, 
 what you are the worse, either in your soul 
 or in your body, for what hath happened; 
 for upon this very stock many evils will dis- 
 appear, since the body and soul make up the 
 whole man. If an enemy hath taken all that 
 from a prince whereby he was a king, he 
 may refresh himself by considering all that is 
 left him whereby he is a man. 
 
 —Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 November Twelfth. 
 ■^O form of vice, not worldliness, not 
 greed of gold, not drunkenness itself, 
 does more to unchristianize society than 
 evil temper. For embittering life, for break- 
 ing up communities, for destroying the most 
 sacred relationships, for devastating homes, 
 for withering up men and women, for tak- 
 ing the bloom off childhood, in short, for 
 sheer gratuitous misery-producing power, 
 this influence stands alone. 
 
 -^Henry Drummond. 
 174 
 
November Thirteenth. 
 
 ALL God's pleasures are simple ones; 
 
 health, the rapture of a May morning^ 
 
 sunshine, the stream blue and green, kind 
 
 words, benevolent acts, the glow of good 
 
 humor. — F. W. Robertson. 
 
 November Fourteenth. 
 ■pJOW often do we look upon God as our 
 last and feeblest resource I We go to 
 Him because we have nowhere else to go. 
 And then we learn that the storms of life 
 have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into 
 the desired haven: that we have been com- 
 pelled, as to the last remaining, so to the best, 
 the only, the central help, the causing cause 
 of all the helps to which we had turned aside 
 as nearer and better. — George MacDonald. 
 
 November Fifteenth. 
 T SLEPT, and dreamed that life was Beauty, 
 
 I woke, and found that life was Duty. 
 Was thy dream then a shadowy lie ? 
 Toil on, sad heart, courageously. 
 And thou shalt find thy dream to be 
 A noonday light and truth to thee. 
 
 — Ellen Sturgis Hooper. 
 
 175 
 
November sixteenth. 
 
 /^UR most golden conditions in this life are 
 set in brazen frames. There is no gath- 
 ering a rose without a thorn till we come to 
 Immanuel's land. If there were nothing 
 but showers we should conclude the world 
 would be drowned; if nothing but sunshine 
 we should fear the earth would be burned. 
 Our worldly comforts would be a sea to 
 drown us, if our crosses were not a plank to 
 save us. By the fairest gales a sinner may 
 sail to destruction, and by the fiercest winds 
 a saint may sail to glory. 
 
 — Rev. William Secker. 
 
 November Seventeenth. 
 
 TN this way all the world may be an aristo- 
 crat, and play the duke among marquises, 
 and the reigning monarch among dukes, if he 
 will only outvie them in tranquillity. An im- 
 perturbable demeanor comes from perfect 
 patience. Quiet minds cannot be perplexed 
 or frightened, but go on in fortune or mis- 
 fortune at their own private pace, hke a clock 
 during a thunder-storm. 
 
 ^Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 
 17^ 
 
November Eighteenth. 
 
 npO count no cost in time or will; 
 To simply try my place to fill; 
 To do because the act is right; 
 To live as living in His sight; 
 To try each day His will to know; 
 To tread the way His will may show; 
 To regulate each plan I make, 
 Each hope I build, or hope I break. 
 To please the heart which pleases me 
 Through daily tireless ministry; 
 To live for Him who gave me life; 
 To strive for Him who suffered strife 
 And sacrifice through death for me — 
 Let this my joy, my portion be. 
 
 — George Kringle. 
 
 November Nineteenth. 
 
 T LIVE for those who love me. 
 
 For those I know are true; 
 For the heaven that smiles above me, 
 
 And awaits my spirit too; 
 For all human ties that bind me, 
 For the task by God assigned me, 
 For the bright hopes yet to find me. 
 And the good that 1 can do. 
 
 — George Linn/«us Banks. 
 
 177 
 
November Twentieth. 
 
 r\ LORD, how happy is the time 
 
 When in Thy love 1 rest! 
 When from my weariness I climb 
 
 Even to Thy tender breast! 
 The night of sorrow endeth there: 
 Thou art brighter than the sun; 
 And in Thy pardon and Thy care 
 The heaven of heaven is won. 
 
 — George MacDonald. 
 
 November Twenty-first. 
 TX/-HATE'ER thou lovest, man. 
 
 That, too, become thou must; 
 God, if thou lovest God, 
 Dust, if thou lovest dust. 
 
 Go out, God will go in; 
 
 Die thou and let Him live; 
 Be not, and He will be; 
 
 Wait, and He'll all things give. 
 
 Drive out from thee the world. 
 And then like God thou'lt be, 
 A heaven within thyself 
 in calm eternity. 
 
 — Angelus Silesius. 
 178 
 
November Twenty-second. 
 
 CHOULD all the weight of life 
 
 Be laid across our shoulder, and the 
 future, rife 
 With woe and struggle, meet us face to face 
 
 At just one place, 
 
 We could not go; 
 
 Our feet would stop; and so 
 God lays a little on us every day ; 
 And never, I believe, on all the way. 
 
 Will burdens bear so deep, 
 Or pathways lie so threatening and so steep. 
 
 But we can go, if by God's power 
 
 We only bear the burden of the hour. 
 
 November Twenty-third. 
 T AM but weak, with no arms to fight; 
 Great is their strength who withstand the 
 right; 
 How can 1 aid to burst the chain. 
 That the King may come to His own again ? 
 1 can but watch, 1 can but pray, 
 1 can but look for a brighter day; 
 But I know that evil shall cease to reign 
 And the King shall come to His own again. 
 — William Waterfield. 
 
 179 
 
November Twenty-fourth. 
 
 npHE longer I live, the more clearly I see 
 how all souls are in His hand — the 
 mean and the great. Fallen on the earth in 
 their baseness, or fading as the mist of morn- 
 ing in their goodness; — still in the hand of 
 the potter as the clay, and in the temple of 
 their master as the cloud. It was not the 
 mere bodily death that He conquered — that 
 death had no sting. It was this spiritual 
 death which He conquered, so that at last it 
 should be swallowed up — mark the word — 
 not in life ; but in victory. As the dead body 
 shall be raised to life, so also the defeated 
 soul to victory, if only it has been fighting on 
 its Master's side, has made no covenant with 
 death; nor itself bowed its forehead for His 
 seal. Blind from the prison-house, maimed 
 from the battle, or mad from the tombs, 
 their souls shall surely yet sit, astonished, at 
 His feet who giveth peace. — ^John Ruskin. 
 
 November Twenty-fifth. 
 
 A/rANY of you will remember that passage 
 
 in "The Pilgrim's Progress" where a 
 
 disciple is represented as going down into a 
 
 dark valley; and, as he is creeping along, he 
 
 180 
 
begins to shudder and be afraid: but just as 
 he is about to give up, and turn back in de- 
 spair, he hears a strong, dear voice ahead of 
 him, chanting, "Though I walit through the 
 valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
 evil;" and he takes courage, and goes on. 
 Brave song, that ! And so, perhaps, my 
 good brother or sister in Christ, there may be 
 some poor soul back of you creeping along 
 with fear and trembling amid the experience 
 of life, poor, timid, and heart-broken. You 
 cannot go back and creep with him; you 
 cannot grope amid the darkness of that de- 
 spair with him ; but you can do one thing, — 
 you can lift up your voice, and sing some 
 song of holy confidence, some sublime hymn 
 of trust; and God shall float the sounds back 
 to that halting soul, and he shall be cheered 
 and strengthened and saved by your joy. 
 —Rev. W. H. H. Murray. 
 
 November Twenty-sixth. 
 
 CING o' the " good time coming"— 
 Fancy you hear its drums. 
 
 And hfe'Il be all the sweeter 
 
 If never the good time comes ! 
 181 
 
November Twenty-seventh. 
 
 'npO blind old Milton's rayless orbs 
 
 A light divine is given, 
 And deaf Beethoven hears the hymns 
 
 And harmonies of heaven! 
 Thus, though relentless fate may close 
 
 The gateways of our senses, 
 Immortal spirit overleaps 
 
 Their barriers and defenses, '■ 
 
 And with celestial recompense 
 
 For harm and loss diurnal, 
 Yields greater joys than flesh affords, 
 
 In foretastes of the eternal ! 
 
 November Twenty-eighth. 
 
 'TPRUE peace is the possession of the favor 
 of God. This is found only in submis- 
 sion, faith, and obedience to His laws; it is 
 the result of a pure and holy love for Him. 
 Resign every forbidden joy; restrain every 
 wish that is not referred to His will; banish 
 all eager desires, all anxiety. Desire only the 
 will of God; seek Him alone, and you will 
 find peace; you shall enjoy it in spite of the 
 world. What is it that troubles you ? pov- 
 erty, neglect, want of success, external or in- 
 ternal troubles } Look upon everything as in 
 
 182 
 
the hands of God, and as real blessings that 
 He bestows upon His children, of which you 
 receive your portion. Then the world may 
 turn its face from you, but nothing will de- 
 prive you of peace. — F^nelon. 
 
 'November Twenty-ninth. 
 
 /^N thy striving drops His calm; 
 
 On thine anguish falls His balm; — 
 Let thy heart its joy-bells ring; 
 He, the risen Christ, is King. 
 
 — Mary Lowe Dickinson. 
 
 'November Thirtieth. 
 
 ■^"OW suppose thyself in as great a sadness 
 
 as ever did load thy spirit, wouldst 
 
 thou not bear it cheerfully and nobly if thou 
 
 wert sure that within a certain space some 
 
 strange excellent fortune would relieve thee, 
 
 and enrich thee, and recompense thee, so as 
 
 to overflow all thy hopes and thy desires and 
 
 capacities ? Now then, when a sadness lies 
 
 heavy upon thee, remember that thou art a 
 
 Christian designed to the inheritance of Jesus ; 
 
 and what dost thou think concerning thy 
 
 great fortune, thy lot and portion of eternity ? 
 
 — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 183 
 
December First. 
 'npAKE the world as it is, with its smile and 
 its sorrow, 
 Its love and its friendship, its falsehood and 
 truth, 
 Its schemes that depend on the breath of to- 
 morrow. 
 Its hopes which pass by like the dreams of 
 our youth. 
 Yet, oh! whilst the light of affection may 
 shine. 
 The heart in itself hath a fountain of bliss. 
 In the worst there's some spark of a nature 
 divine, 
 And the wisest and best take the world as 
 it is. 
 
 — Charles Swain. 
 
 December Second. 
 
 JOY is well in its way, but a few flashes 
 of joy are trifles in comparison with a 
 life of peace. Which is best: the flash of 
 joy lighting up the whole heart, and then 
 darkness until the next flash comes, or the 
 steady calm sunlight of day in which men 
 work.? — F. W. Robertson. 
 
 184 
 
December Third. 
 T WOULD not have Thee otherwise 
 
 Than what Thou still must be; 
 Yea, Thou art God, and what Thou art 
 
 Is ever best for me. 
 And so, for all my sighs, my heart 
 
 Doth sing itself to rest, 
 O Love Divine, most far and near. 
 Upon Thy tender breast. 
 
 —J. W. Chadwick. 
 
 December Fourth. 
 
 ■\^E have need of all our crosses. When 
 we suffer much, it is because we 
 have strong ties that it is necessary to loosen. 
 We resist, and we thus retard the divine 
 operation; we repulse the heavenly hand, 
 and it must come again: it would be wiser 
 to yield ourselves at once to God. That the 
 operation of His providence, which over- 
 throws our self-love, should not be painful 
 to us, would require the intervention of a 
 miracle. Would it be less miraculous, that 
 a soul, absorbed in its own concerns, should, 
 in a moment, become dead to self, than that 
 a child should go to sleep a child, and wake 
 up a man ? — Fenelon. 
 185 
 
December Fifth. 
 
 r^ IVE to barrows, trays, and pans 
 
 Grace and glimmer of romance; 
 Bring the moonlight into noon, 
 Hid in gleaming piles of stone. 
 So shall the drudge in dusty frock 
 Spy behind the city clock 
 Retinues of airy kings, 
 Skirts of angels, starry wings; 
 His fathers shining in bright fables, 
 His children fed at heavenly tables. 
 
 — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 
 December Sixth. 
 
 "D ELIGION is not austerity. It is just about 
 as much a clog to a man as wings are 
 to a bird. Faith in God, as 1 love to think, 
 never fetters a soul, but plumes it for flight, 
 and sends it circling up into the heavens. It 
 is true, some do not believe this, — at least, 
 they do not seem to; for they are always de- 
 jected and woe-begone. They wail and be- 
 moan, as if haltered for execution, and Satan 
 had hold of the rope. Such miserables deem 
 themselves great sinners, and Christ a little 
 Saviour. They meditate so much on what 
 they are, that they have no time to reflect on 
 
 186 
 
what Christ is. The rdU of their sins they 
 have conned by heart; but the infinite lists 
 of Christ's atoning merits they little realize. 
 —Rev. W. H. H. Murray. 
 
 December Seventh. 
 'X'HE Cross means simply that you are to 
 go the road which you see to be the 
 straight one: carrying whatever you find is 
 given you to carry, as well and stoutly as 
 you can; without making faces or calling 
 people to come and look at you. Above all, 
 you are neither to load, nor unload, yourself; 
 nor cut your cross to your own liking. 
 
 —John Ruskin. 
 
 December Eighth. 
 
 A CONTENTED heart is an even sea in the 
 midst of all storms. It is like a tree in 
 autumn, which secures its life when it has 
 lost its leaves. When worthy Mr. Heron lay 
 upon its death-bed, his wife with great con- 
 cern asked him what was to become of her 
 and her large family; he answered, "Peace, 
 sweet heart; that God who feeds the ravens 
 will not starve the Herons." 
 
 — Rev. William Secker. 
 
 187 
 
December Ninth. 
 
 T O! what a change within us one short 
 
 hour 
 Spent in Thy presence will prevail to make! 
 What heavy burdens from our bosoms take! 
 What parched ground refresh as with a 
 
 shower! 
 We kneel, and all around us seems to lower; 
 We rise, and all the distant and the near 
 Stand forth in sunny outline, brave and clear. 
 We kneel, how weak! we rise, how full of 
 
 power! 
 
 Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this 
 
 wrong. 
 Or others — that we are not always strong; 
 That we are ever overborne with care; 
 That we should ever weak or heartless be. 
 Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer, 
 And joy and strength and courage are with 
 
 Thee? 
 
 — Dean Alford. 
 
 December Tenth. 
 
 TPHE day seems to be arrived when there 
 
 is really so much to make us think well 
 
 of the destiny of mankind ; such fair reason 
 
 188 
 
to rejoice in ttie mere fact of existence; so 
 large a promise of ever-extending iiuman 
 l^nowledge and insiglit; sucli general soften- 
 ing of manners, spreading of intelligence and 
 enlarging of average happiness, that it ap- 
 pears more becoming for man, the chief at 
 least of animals, to be singing with the lark 
 in the sky than croaking with the frog in the 
 swamp. — Sir Edwin Arnold. 
 
 December Eleventh. 
 
 T HAVE a life in Christ to live, 
 
 I have a death in Christ to die, — 
 And must I wait till science give 
 All doubts a full reply } 
 
 Nay, rather, while the sea of doubt 
 
 Is raging wildly round about. 
 
 Questioning of life and death and sin. 
 
 Let me but creep within 
 
 Thy fold, O Christ! and at Thy feet 
 
 Take but the lowest seat. 
 
 And hear Thine awful voice repeat. 
 
 In gentlest accents, heavenly sweet, 
 
 " Come unto Me, and rest: 
 
 Believe Me, and be blest." 
 
 — John Campbell Shairp, 
 
 189 
 
December Twelfth. 
 
 CAD heart, be hopeful. 
 
 Despairing no longer; 
 Wrong is the weaker, 
 
 The Right is the stronger; 
 Trust and go forward. 
 
 On God's help relying; 
 That which is best, lives. 
 
 Though all else be dying. 
 God rules forever. 
 
 As good will discover. 
 
 All the world over. 
 
 — Marianne Farningham. 
 
 December Thirteenth. 
 
 TPHERE are two great classes of promoters 
 of social happiness, cheerful people, 
 and people who have some reticence. The 
 latter are more secure benefits to society even 
 than the former. They are non-conductors 
 of all the heats and animosities around them. 
 To have peace in a house, or a family, or any 
 social circle, the members of it must beware 
 of passing on hasty and uncharitable speeches, 
 which, the whole of the context seldom being 
 told, is often not conveying, but creating, 
 mischief. They must be very good people 
 
 190 
 
to avoid doing this; for let human nature 
 say what it will, it likes sometimes to looli 
 on at a quarrel : and that, not altogether from 
 ill-nature, but from a love of excitement — 
 for the same reason that Charles the Second 
 liked to attend the debates in the Lords, be- 
 cause they were "as good as a play." 
 
 — Sir Arthur Helps. 
 
 December Fourteenth. 
 
 T THINK we may look upon our little 
 private war with death somewhat in this 
 light. If a man knows he will sooner or 
 later be robbed upon a journey, he will have 
 a bottle of the best in every inn, and look 
 upon all his extravagances as so much gained 
 upon the thieves. And above all, where, in- 
 stead of simply spending, he makes a profit- 
 able investment for some of his money when 
 it will be out of risk of loss. So every bit of 
 best living, and above all when it is health- 
 ful, is just so much gained upon the whole- 
 sale filcher, death. We shall have the less in 
 our pockets, the more in our stomachs, when 
 he cries, Stand and deliver. 
 
 — Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 
 191 
 
December Fifteenth. 
 
 oO grant me, God, from every care 
 
 And stain of passion free, 
 Aloft, through Virtue's purer air, 
 
 To hold my course to Thee ! 
 No sin to cloud, no lure to stay 
 
 My soul, as home she springs; — 
 Thy sunshine on her joyful way. 
 Thy freedom in her wings! 
 
 — Thomas Moore. 
 
 December Sixteenth. 
 TF we could have our ways in everything, 
 
 If man could only be a little king. 
 And out of sight and mind all troubles fling. 
 We still would grumble. 
 
 In fact, if we could nature's la\ys reverse, 
 
 And all the fancied clouds of life disperse — 
 
 If we could simply boss the universe — 
 
 We'd make a jumble! 
 
 —J. A. Waldron. 
 19a 
 
December Seventeenth. 
 "Y'OU close your doors and brood over your 
 own miseries, and tiie wrongs people 
 have done you; whereas, if you would but 
 open those doors, you might come out into 
 the light of God's truth, and see that His 
 heart is as clear as sunlight towards you. You 
 won't believe this, and therefore naturally you 
 can't quite believe that there is a God at all: 
 for indeed, a being that was not all light 
 would be no God at all. If you would but 
 let Him teach you, you would find your per- 
 plexities melt away like the snow in spring, 
 till you could hardly believe you had ever felt 
 them. No arguing will convince you of a 
 God; but let Him once come in, and all argu- 
 ment will be tenfold useless to convince you 
 that there is no God. — George MacDonald. 
 
 December Eighteenth. 
 
 'TPHE foundation of content must spring up 
 in a man's own mind; and he who has 
 so little knowledge of human nature as to 
 seek happiness by changing anything but his 
 own disposition, will waste his life in fruit- 
 less efforts, and multiply the griefs which he 
 purposes to remove. — Samuel Johnson. 
 
 193 
 
December Nineteenth. 
 
 COBBING still over that ugly stain ? 
 
 I may not comfort or hush you, dear. 
 Through such sad tears in their burning rain 
 
 Christ and His cross show clear. 
 Must you go sorrowing all your day ? 
 
 Dear, in suffering souls grow white: 
 Keep my hand through this stony way — 
 
 See where the west turns bright. 
 
 December Twentieth. 
 
 r)E brave, my brother! 
 
 The recompense is great. 
 
 The kingdom bright and fair; 
 Beyond the glory of all earthly state. 
 
 Shall be the glory there. 
 Grudge not the heavy cost. 
 
 Faint not at labor here, 
 'Tis but a lifetime at the most, 
 
 The day of rest is near. 
 
 — HORATIUS BONAR. 
 
 December Twenty-first. 
 
 T AM certain you cannot do people good by 
 
 showing them only the painful. Make 
 
 your pictures as painful as you will, but put 
 
 some hope into them, something to show 
 
 194 
 
that action is worth taking in the affair. 
 From mere suffering people will turn away, 
 and you cannot blame them. Every show of 
 it, without hinting at some door of escape, 
 only urges them to forget it all. Why 
 should they be pained if it can do no good ? 
 — George MacDonald. 
 
 December Twenty-second. 
 
 T) E glad when the flowers have faded ? 
 
 Be glad when the trees are bare ? 
 When the fog lies thick on the fields and 
 moors. 
 And the frost is in the air.? 
 When all around is a desert. 
 
 And the clouds obscure the light, 
 When there are no songs for the darkest day. 
 No stars for the longest night ? 
 
 Ah, yes, for the truest gladness 
 
 Is not in ease or mirth ; 
 It has its home in the heart of God, 
 
 Not in the loves of earth. 
 God's love is the same forever. 
 
 If the skies are bright or dim. 
 And the joy of the morning lasts all day 
 
 When the heart is glad in Him. 
 
 — Marianne Farningham. 
 
 195 
 
December Twenty-third. 
 
 COME murmur, when their sky is clear 
 
 And wholly bright to view. 
 If one small speck of dark appear 
 
 In their great heaven of blue. 
 And some with thankful love are filled, 
 
 If but one streak of light. 
 One ray of God's good mercy gild 
 
 The darkness of their night. 
 
 — Trench. 
 
 December Twenty-fourth. 
 "^OW is that sad time of year 
 
 When no flower or leaf is here; 
 When in misty Southern ways 
 Oriole and jay have flown, 
 And of all sweet birds alone 
 The robin stays. 
 
 So give thanks at Christmastide; 
 Hopes of spring-time yet abide! 
 See, in spite of darksome days. 
 Wind and rain and bitter chill. 
 Snow and sleet-hung branches, still 
 The robin stays! 
 
 — T. B. Aldrich. 
 
 196 
 
December Twenty-fifth. 
 Q CHRIST, the child of Bethlehem! 
 
 Descend to us, we pray! 
 Cast out our sin and enter in — 
 
 Be born in us to-day! 
 We hear the Christmas angels 
 
 Their great, glad tidings tell — 
 O come to us — be born in us — 
 Our Lord — Emanuel! 
 
 — Phillips Brooks. 
 
 December Twenty-sixth. 
 A T Christmas time next year. 
 
 Who knows what changing fortunes 
 may be near ? 
 Take courage, then ! For night shall turn to 
 
 day. 
 From brightening skies the clouds must roll 
 
 away. 
 And faith and hope and love shall all be here 
 At Christmas time next year. 
 
 — Helen M. Winslow. 
 
 197 
 
December Twenty-seventh. 
 
 r^OD'S parental heart does not wish to 
 grieve us; He must wound us to the 
 very heart, that He may cure its malady. He 
 must take from us what is most dear, lest we 
 love it too much, lest we love it to the 
 prejudice of our love for Him. We weep, 
 we despair, we groan in our spirits, 
 and we murmur against God ; but He 
 leaves us to our sorrow, and we are saved; 
 our present grief saves us from an eternal 
 sorrow. He has placed the friends whom He 
 has taken from us in safety, to restore them 
 to us in eternity. He has deprived us of 
 them, that He may teach us to love them 
 with a pure love, a love that we may enjoy in 
 His presence forever; He confers a greater 
 blessing than we were capable of desiring. 
 
 — Fenelon. 
 
 December Twenty-eighth. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN ought to feel always that he 
 
 has partially failed, but that ought not to 
 
 be the only feeling. Faith ought ever to be a 
 
 sanguine, cheerful thing; and perhaps in 
 
 practical life we could not give a better ac- 
 
 198 
 
count of faith than by saying that it is, amid 
 much failure, having the heart to try again. 
 Our best deeds are mariced by imperfection, 
 but if they really were our best, "forgetting 
 the things that are behind," we shall do better 
 next time. — F. W. Robertson. 
 
 December Twenty-ntntk. 
 
 r^ OD is the master of the scenes ; we must 
 not choose which part we shall act; it 
 concerns us only to be careful that we do it 
 well, always saying, " If this please God, let 
 it be as it is " ; and we, who pray that God's 
 will may be done in earth as it is in heaven, 
 must remember that the angels do whatso- 
 ever is commanded them, and go wherever 
 they are sent, and refuse no circumstances; 
 and if their employment be crossed by a 
 higher decree, they sit down in peace, and 
 rejoice in the event. Keep the station where 
 God hath placed you, and you shall never long 
 for things without, but sit at home, feasting 
 upon the divine providence and thy own 
 reason, by which we are taught that it is 
 necessary and reasonable to submit to God. 
 — ^Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 199 
 
December Thirtieth.- 
 
 npHE past is o'er — 
 
 Waste not thy days in vain regret, 
 Grieve thou no more. 
 
 Look now before 
 And not behind thee; do not fret — 
 The past is o'er. 
 
 Thy pain is sore 
 And thou hast cause for sorrow, yet 
 Grieve thou no more. 
 
 Close memory's door; 
 That day is dead, that sun has set — 
 The past is o'er. 
 
 There are in store 
 For thee still happy days. Forget! 
 Grieve thou no more. 
 
 Smile as of yore — 
 No longer let thine eyes be wet. 
 The past is o'er, 
 Grieve thou no more ! 
 
 200 
 
December Thirty-first. 
 
 Q NEW YEAR, teach us faith! 
 
 The road of life is hard ; 
 When our feet bleed and scourging winds us 
 
 scathe, 
 Point thou to Him whose visage was more 
 
 marred 
 Than any man's ; who saith, 
 "Make straight paths for your feet," and to 
 
 the opprest, 
 "Come ye to Me, and I will give you rest." 
 
 Friend, come thou like a friend. 
 And whether bright thy face 
 Or dim with clouds we cannot comprehend. 
 We'll hold our patient hands, each in his 
 place, 
 And trust Thee to the end. 
 Knowing Thou leadest onward to those 
 
 spheres 
 Where there are neither days, nor months, 
 nor years. 
 
 — Dinah Mulock Craik. 
 
 201