Daily Strength for Daily Needs Part 16

E. SCUDDER.

Notwithstanding all that I have suffered, notwithstanding all the pain and weariness and anxiety and sorrow that necessarily enter into life, and the inward errings that are worse than all, I would end my record with a devout thanksgiving to the great Author of my being. For more and more am I unwilling to make my grat.i.tude to Him what is commonly called "a thanksgiving for mercies,"--for any benefits or blessings that are peculiar to myself, or my friends, or indeed to any man. Instead of this, I would have it to be grat.i.tude for _all_ that belongs to my life and being,--for joy and sorrow, for health and sickness, for success and disappointment, for virtue and for temptation, for life and death; because I believe that all is meant for good.

ORVILLE DEWEY.

March 29

_There shall no evil befall thee_.--PS. xci. 10.

_Whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil_.--PROV. i. 33.

I ask not, "Take away this weight of care;"

No, for that love I pray that all can bear, And for the faith that whatsoe'er befall Must needs be good, and for my profit prove, Since from my Father's heart most rich in love, And from His bounteous hands it cometh all.

C. J. P. SPITTA.

Be like the promontory, against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm, and tames the fury of the water around it. Unhappy am I, because this has happened to me? Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present, nor fearing the future. Will then this which has happened prevent thee from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood? Remember, too, on every occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle: that this is not a misfortune, but that to bear it n.o.bly is good fortune.

MARCUS ANTONINUS.

March 30

_Thou shall guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory_.--PS. lxxiii. 24.

_There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of G.o.d_.--HEB. iv. 9.

Guide us through life; and when at last We enter into rest, Thy tender arms around us cast, And fold us to Thy breast.

H. F. LYTE.

Go forth to meet the solemnities and to conquer the trials of existence, believing in a Shepherd of your souls. Then faith in Him will support you in duty, and duty firmly done will strengthen faith; till at last, when all is over here, and the noise and strife of the earthly battle fades upon your dying ear, and you hear, instead thereof, the deep and musical sound of the ocean of eternity, and see the lights of heaven s.h.i.+ning on its waters still and fair in their radiant rest, your faith will raise the song of conquest, and in its retrospect of the life which has ended, and its forward glance upon the life to come, take up the poetic inspiration of the Hebrew king, "Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

STOPFORD A. BROOKE.

March 31

_Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace_.--JOB v. 23, 24.

Love had he found in huts where poor men lie; His daily teachers had been woods and rills, The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills.

W. Wordsworth.

That spirit which suffices quiet hearts, which seems to come forth to such from every dry knoll of sere gra.s.s, from every pine-stump, and half-embedded stone, on which the dull March sun s.h.i.+nes, comes forth to the poor and hungry, and to such as are of simple taste. If thou fill thy brain with Boston and New York, with fas.h.i.+on and covetousness, and wilt stimulate thy jaded senses with wine and French coffee, thou shall find no radiance of wisdom in the lonely waste of the pine-woods.

R. W. EMERSON.

As a countenance is made beautiful by the soul's s.h.i.+ning through it, so the world is beautiful by the s.h.i.+ning through it of a G.o.d.

FRIEDRICH HEINRICH JACOBI.

April 1

_For Thou Invest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which Thou hast made: for never wouldest Thou have made any thing, if Thou hadst hated it. But Thou sparest all: for they are Thine, O Lord, Thou lover of souls_.--WISDOM OF SOLOMON xi. 24, 26.

He prayeth well who loveth well Both man and bird and beast; He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear G.o.d who loveth us, He made and loveth all.

S. T. COLERIDGE.

To know that Love alone was the beginning of nature and creature, that nothing but Love encompa.s.ses the whole universe of things, that the governing Hand that overrules all, the watchful Eye that sees through all, is nothing but omnipotent and omniscient Love, using an infinity of wisdom, to save every misguided creature from the miserable works of its own hands, and make happiness and glory the perpetual inheritance of all the creation, is a reflection that must be quite ravis.h.i.+ng to every intelligent creature that is sensible of it.

WM. LAW.

April 2

_Know ye not that ye are the temple of G.o.d, and that the Spirit of G.o.d dwelleth in you_?--I COR. iii. 16.

Father! replenish with Thy grace This longing heart of mine; Make it Thy quiet dwelling-place, Thy sacred inmost shrine!

JOHANN SCHEFFLER.

Not man's manifold labors, but his manifold cares, hinder the presence of G.o.d. Whatsoever thou doest, hush thyself to thine own feverish vanities, and busy thoughts, and cares; in silence seek thy Father's face, and the light of His countenance will stream down upon thee. He will make a secret cell in thine heart, and when thou enterest there, there shalt thou find Him. And if thou hast found Him there, all around shall reflect Him, all shall speak to Him, and He will speak through all. Outwardly thou mayest be doing the work of thy calling; inwardly if thou commend thy work to G.o.d, thou mayest be with Him in the third Heaven.

E. B. PUSEY.

April 3

_As for thee, the Lord thy G.o.d hath not suffered thee so to do_.--DEUT.

xviii. 14.

Lord, for the erring thought Not into evil wrought; Lord, for the wicked will Betrayed and baffled still; For the heart from itself kept, Our Thanksgiving accept.