Daily Strength for Daily Needs Part 2

JEREMY TAYLOR.

January 11

_I will be glad, and rejoice in Thy mercy: for Thou hast considered my trouble; Thou hast known my soul in adversities_.--PS. x.x.xi. 7.

Nay, all by Thee is ordered, chosen, planned; Each drop that fills my daily cup Thy hand Prescribes, for ills none else can understand: All, all is known to Thee.

A. L. NEWTON.

G.o.d knows us through and through. Not the most secret thought, which we most hide from ourselves, is hidden from Him. As then we come to know ourselves through and through, we come to see ourselves more as G.o.d sees us, and then we catch some little glimpse of His designs with us, how each ordering of His Providence, each check to our desires, each failure of our hopes, is just fitted for us, and for something in our own spiritual state, which others know not of, and which, till then, we knew not. Until we come to this knowledge, we must take all in faith, believing, though we know not, the goodness of G.o.d towards us. As we know ourselves, we, thus far, know G.o.d.

E. B. PUSEY.

January 12

_Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer_.--PS. xix. 14.

The thoughts that in our hearts keep place, Lord, make a holy, heavenly throng, And steep in innocence and grace The issue of each guarded tongue.

T. H. GILL.

There is another kind of silence to be cultivated, besides that of the tongue as regards others. I mean silence as regards one's self,--restraining the imagination, not permitting it to dwell overmuch on what we have heard or said, not indulging in the phantasmagoria of picture-thoughts, whether of the past or future. Be sure that you have made no small progress in the spiritual life, when you can control your imagination, so as to fix it on the duty and occupation actually existing, to the exclusion of the crowd of thoughts which are perpetually sweeping across the mind. No doubt, you cannot prevent those thoughts from arising, but you can prevent yourself from dwelling on them; you can put them aside, you can check the self-complacency, or irritation, or earthly longings which feed them, and by the practice of such control of your thoughts you will attain that spirit of inward silence which draws the soul into a close intercourse with G.o.d.

JEAN N. GROU.

January 13

_Speak not evil one of another, brethren_.--JAMES iv. 11.

_Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice_.--EPH. iv. 31.

If aught good thou canst not say Of thy brother, foe, or friend, Take thou, then, the silent way, Lest in word thou shouldst offend.

ANON.

If there is any person to whom you feel dislike, that is the person of whom you ought never to speak.

R. CECIL.

To recognize with delight all high and generous and beautiful actions; to find a joy even in seeing the good qualities of your bitterest opponents, and to admire those qualities even in those with whom you have least sympathy, this is the only spirit which can heal the love of slander and of calumny.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

January 14

_Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint_.--2 SAM. xv. 15.

I love to think that G.o.d appoints My portion day by day; Events of life are in His hand, And I would only say, Appoint them in Thine own good time, And in Thine own best way.

A. L. WARING.

If we are really, and always, and equally ready to do whatsoever the King appoints, all the trials and vexations arising from any change in His appointments, great or small, simply do not exist. If He appoints me to work there, shall I lament that I am not to work here? If He appoints me to wait in-doors to-day, am I to be annoyed because I am not to work out-of-doors? If I meant to write His messages this morning, shall I grumble because He sends interrupting visitors, rich or poor, to whom I am to speak them, or "show kindness" for His sake, or at least obey His command, "Be courteous?" If all my members are really at His disposal, why should I be put out if to-day's appointment is some simple work for my hands or errands for my feet, instead of some seemingly more important doing of head or tongue?

F. R. HAVERGAL.

January 15

_For this is the will of G.o.d, even your sanctification_.--I THESS. iv. 3.

Between us and Thyself remove Whatever hindrances may be, That so our inmost heart may prove A holy temple, meet for Thee.

LATIN MSS. OF 15TH CENTURY.

Bear, in the presence of G.o.d, to know thyself. Then seek to know for what G.o.d sent thee into the world; how thou hast fulfilled it; art thou yet what G.o.d willed thee to be; what yet lacketh unto thee; what is G.o.d's will for thee _now_; what thing thou mayest _now_ do, by His grace, to obtain His favor, and approve thyself unto Him. Say to Him, "Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my G.o.d," and He will say unto thy soul, "Fear not; I am thy salvation." He will speak peace unto thy soul; He will set thee in the way; He will bear thee above things of sense, and praise of man, and things which perish in thy grasp, and give thee, if but afar off, some glimpse of His own, unfading, unsetting, unperis.h.i.+ng brightness and bliss and love.

E. B. PUSEY.

January 16

_Now our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, and G.o.d, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work_.--2 THESS. ii. 16, 17.

When sorrow all our heart would ask, We need not shun our daily task, And hide ourselves for calm; The herbs we seek to heal our woe Familiar by our pathway grow, Our common air is balm.

J. KEBLE.

Oh, when we turn away from some duty or some fellow-creature, saying that our hearts are too sick and sore with some great yearning of our own, we may often sever the line on which a divine message was coming to us. We shut out the man, and we shut out the angel who had sent him on to open the door. There is a plan working in our lives; and if we keep our hearts quiet and our eyes open, it all works together; and, if we don't, it all rights together, and goes on fighting till it comes right, somehow, somewhere.

ANNIE KEARY.