Part 32

The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.--PS. cxxi. 5.

Great peace have they which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them.--PS. cxix. 165.

I rest beneath the Almighty's shade, My griefs expire, my troubles cease; Thou, Lord, on whom my soul is stayed, Wilt keep me still in perfect peace.

C. WESLEY.

One great sign of the practical recognition of the "divine moment," and of our finding God's habitation in it, is constant calmness and peace of mind. Events and things come with the moment; but God comes with them too. So that if He comes in the sunshine, we find rest and joy; and if He comes in the storm, we know He is King of the storms, and our hearts are not troubled. God Himself, though possessing a heart filled with the tenderest feelings, is, nevertheless, an everlasting tranquillity; and when we enter into His holy tabernacle, our souls necessarily enter into the tabernacle of rest.

T. C. UPHAM.

My soul was not only brought into harmony with itself and with God, but with God's providences. In the exercise of faith and love, I endured and performed whatever came in God's providence, in submission, in thankfulness, and silence.

MADAME GUYON.

April 29

I will arise and go to my Father.--LUKE xv. 18.

O my God, my Father! hear, And help me to believe; Weak and weary I draw near; Thy child, O God, receive. I so oft have gone astray; To the perfect Guide I flee; Thou wilt turn me not away, Thy love is pledged to me.

HYMNS OF THE SPIRIT.

O child, hast thou fallen? arise, and go, with childlike trust, to thy Father, like the prodigal son, and humbly say, with heart and mouth, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son; make me as one of Thy hired servants." And what will thy heavenly Father do but what that father did in the parable? Assuredly He will not change His essence, which is love, for the sake of thy misdoings. Is it not His own precious treasure, and a small thing with Him to forgive thee thy trespasses, if thou believe in Him? for His hand is not shortened that it cannot make thee fit to be saved.

JOHN TAULER.

April 30

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.--EX. xiv. 15.

No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.--LUKE ix. 62.

Be trustful, be steadfast, whatever betide thee, Only one thing do thou ask of the Lord,-- Grace to go forward wherever He guide thee, Simply believing the truth of His word.

ANON.

The soul ceases to weary itself with planning and foreseeing, giving itself up to God's Holy Spirit within, and to the teachings of His providence without. He is not forever fretting as to his progress, or looking back to see how far he is getting on; rather he goes steadily and quietly on, and makes all the more progress because it is unconscious. So he never gets troubled and discouraged; if he falls he humbles himself, but gets up at once, and goes on with renewed earnestness.

JEAN NICOLAS GROU.

May 1

I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.--PS. xxxiv. I.

I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvellous works.--PS. ix. I.

Thrice blest will all our blessings be, When we can look through them to Thee; When each glad heart its tribute pays Of love and gratitude and praise.

JANE COTTERILL.

That which befits us, embosomed in beauty and wonder as we are, is cheerfulness, and courage, and the endeavor to realize our aspirations. Shall not the heart which has received so much, trust the Power by which it lives? May it not quit other leadings, and listen to the Soul that has guided it so gently, and taught it so much, secure that the future will be worthy of the past?

R. W. EMERSON.