Daily Strength for Daily Needs Part 40

_Thou hast made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance_.--PS. xxi. 6.

MY heart for gladness springs, It cannot more be sad, For very joy it laughs and sings, Sees nought but suns.h.i.+ne glad.

P. GERHARDT.

A new day rose upon me. It was as if another sun had risen into the sky; the heavens were indescribably brighter, and the earth fairer; and that day has gone on brightening to the present hour. I have known the other joys of life, I suppose, as much as most men; I have known art and beauty, music and gladness; I have known friends.h.i.+p and love and family ties; but it is certain that till we see G.o.d in the world--G.o.d in the bright and boundless universe--we never know the highest joy. It is far more than if one were translated to a world a thousand times fairer than this; for that supreme and central Light of Infinite Love and Wisdom, s.h.i.+ning over this world and all worlds, alone can show us how n.o.ble and beautiful, how fair and glorious they are.

ORVILLE DEWEY.

When I look like this into the blue sky, it seems so deep, so peaceful, so full of a mysterious tenderness, that I could lie for centuries and wait for the dawning of the face of G.o.d out of the awful loving-kindness.

G. MACDONALD.

August 4

_He satisfieth the longing soul, and the hungry soul He filleth with good_.--PS. cvii. 9 (R. V.).

_That ye might be filled with all the fulness of G.o.d_.--EPH. iii. 19.

Enough that He who made can fill the soul Here and hereafter till its deeps o'erflow; Enough that love and tenderness control Our fate where'er in joy or doubt we go.

ANON.

O G.o.d, the Life of the Faithful, the Bliss of the righteous, mercifully receive the prayers of Thy suppliants, that the souls which thirst for Thy promises may evermore be filled from Thy abundance. Amen.

GELASIAN SACRAMENTARY, A. D. 490.

G.o.d makes every common thing serve, if thou wilt, to enlarge that capacity of bliss in His love. Not a prayer, not an act of faithfulness in your calling, not a self-denying or kind word or deed, done out of love for Himself; not a weariness or painfulness endured patiently; not a duty performed; not a temptation resisted; but it enlarges the whole soul for the endless capacity of the love of G.o.d.

E. B. PUSEY.

August 5

_O receive the gift that is given you, and be glad, giving thanks unto Him that hath called you to the heavenly kingdom_.--2 ESDRAS ii. 37.

_Thanks be unto G.o.d for His unspeakable gift_.--2 COR. ix. 15.

O Giver of each perfect gift!

This day our daily bread supply; While from the Spirit's tranquil depths We drink unfailing draughts of joy.

LYRA CATHOLICA.

The best way for a man rightly to enjoy himself, is to maintain a universal, ready, and cheerful compliance with the divine and uncreated Will in all things; as knowing that nothing can issue and flow forth from the fountain of goodness but that which is good; and therefore a good man is never offended with any piece of divine dispensation, nor hath he any reluctancy against that Will that dictates and determines all things by an eternal rule of goodness; as knowing that there is an unbounded and almighty Love that, without any disdain or envy, freely communicates itself to everything He made; that always enfolds those in His everlasting arms who are made partakers of His own image, perpetually nouris.h.i.+ng and cheris.h.i.+ng them with the fresh and vital influences of His grace.

DR. JOHN SMITH.

August 6

_Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits_.--PS. ciii. 2.

Wiser it were to welcome and make ours Whate'er of good, though small, the Present brings,-- Kind greetings, suns.h.i.+ne, song of birds, and flowers, With a child's pure delight in little things.

R. C. TRENCH.

Into all our lives, in many simple, familiar, homely ways, G.o.d infuses this element of joy from the surprises of life, which unexpectedly brighten our days, and fill our eyes with light. He drops this added sweetness into His children's cup, and makes it to run over. The success we were not counting on, the blessing we were not trying after, the strain of music, in the midst of drudgery, the beautiful morning picture or sunset glory thrown in as we pa.s.s to or from our daily business, the unsought word of encouragement or expression of sympathy, the sentence that meant for us more than the writer or speaker thought,--these and a hundred others that every one's experience can supply are instances of what I mean. You may call it accident or chance--it often is; you may call it human goodness--it often is; but always, always call it G.o.d's love, for that is always in it.

These are the overflowing riches of His grace, these are His free gifts.

S. LONGFELLOW.

August 7

_If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth_.--MARK ix. 23.

_Nothing shall be impossible unto you_.--MATT. xvii. 20.

So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is G.o.d to man, When Duty whispers low, _Thou must_, The youth replies, _I can_.

R. W. EMERSON.

Know that "impossible," where truth and mercy and the everlasting voice of nature order, has no place in the brave man's dictionary. That when all men have said "Impossible," and tumbled noisily elsewhither, and thou alone art left, then first thy time and possibility have come. It is for thee now: do thou that, and ask no man's counsel, but thy own only and G.o.d's. Brother, thou hast possibility in thee for much: the possibility of writing on the eternal skies the record of a heroic life.

T. CARLYLE.

In the moral world there is nothing impossible, if we bring a thorough will to it. Man can do everything with himself; but he must not attempt to do too much with others.

WM. VON HUMBOLDT.

August 8

_Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage_.--GAL. v. i.

_I believed, and therefore have I spoken_.--2 COR. iv. 13.