Part 25

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 God 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 encompasses 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 ravishing to every intelligent creature that is sensible of it.

WM. LAW.

April 2

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God 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 God. 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 God, thou mayest be with Him in the third Heaven.

E. B. PUSEY.

April 3

As for thee, the Lord thy God 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.

W. D. HOWELLS.

What an amazing, what a blessed disproportion between the evil we do, and the evil we are capable of doing, and seem sometimes on the very verge of doing! If my soul has grown tares, when it was full of the seeds of nightshade, how happy ought I to be! And that the tares have not wholly strangled the wheat, what a wonder it is! We ought to thank God daily for the sins we have not committed.

F. W. FABER.

We give thanks often with a tearful, doubtful voice, for our spiritual mercies positive; but what an almost infinite field there is for mercies negative! We cannot even imagine all that God has suffered us not to do, not to be.

F. R. HAVERGAL.

You are surprised at your imperfections--why? I should infer from that, that your self-knowledge is small. Surely, you might rather be astonished that you do not fall into more frequent and more grievous faults, and thank God for His upholding grace.

JEAN NICOLAS GROU.

April 4

Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.--MATT. xxv. 23.

O father! help us to resign Our hearts, our strength, our wills to Thee; Then even lowliest work of Thine Most noble, blest, and sweet will be.

H. M. KIMBALL.

Nothing is too little to be ordered by our Father; nothing too little in which to see His hand; nothing, which touches our souls, too little to accept from Him; nothing too little to be done to Him.

E. B. PUSEY.

A soul occupied with great ideas best performs small duties; the divinest views of life penetrate most clearly into the meanest emergencies; so far from petty principles being best proportioned to petty trials, a heavenly spirit taking up its abode with us can alone sustain well the daily toils, and tranquilly pass the humiliations of our condition.

J. MARTINEAU.