Part 50

C. WESLEY.

When you wake, or as soon as you are dressed, offer up your whole self to God, soul and body, thoughts and purposes and desires, to be for that day what He wills. Think of the occasions of the sin likely to befall you, and go, as a child, to your Father which is in heaven, and tell Him in childlike, simple words, your trials--in some such simple words as these--"Thou knowest, good Lord, that I am tempted to--[then name the temptations to it, and the ways in which you sin, as well as you know them]. But, good Lord, for love of Thee, I would this day keep wholly from all [naming the sin] and be very [naming the opposite grace]. I will not, by Thy grace, do one [N.] act, or speak one [N.] word, or give one [N.] look, or harbor one [N.] thought in my soul. If Thou allow any of these temptations to come upon me this day, I desire to think, speak, and do only what Thou willest. Lord, without Thee I can do nothing; with Thee I can do all."

E. B. PUSEY.

July 4

Look at the generations of old, and see; did ever any trust in the Lord, and was confounded? or did any abide in His fear, and was forsaken? or whom did He ever despise, that called upon Him?--ECCLESIASTICUS ii. 10.

Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies, and Thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old.--PS. xxv. 6.

My Father! see I trust the faithfulness displayed of old, I trust the love that never can grow cold-- I trust in Thee.

CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER.

Be not so much discouraged in the sight of what is yet to be done, as comforted in His good-will towards thee. 'Tis true, He hath chastened thee with rods and sore afflictions; but did He ever take away His loving-kindness from thee? or did His faithfulness ever fail in the sorest, blackest, thickest, darkest night that ever befell thee?

I. PENINGTON.

WE call Him the "God of our fathers;" and we feel that there is some stability at centre, while we can tell our cares to One listening at our right hand, by whom theirs are remembered and removed.

J. MARTINEAU.

July 5

He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind.--ISA. xxvii. 8.

A bruised reed shall He not break.--ISA. xlii. 3.

All my life I still have found, And I will forget it never; Every sorrow hath its bound, And no cross endures forever. All things else have but their day, God's love only lasts for aye.

P. GERHARDT.

We never have more than we can bear. The present hour we are always able to endure. As our day, so is our strength. If the trials of many years were gathered into one, they would overwhelm us; therefore, in pity to our little strength, He sends first one, then another, then removes both, and lays on a third, heavier, perhaps, than either; but all is so wisely measured to our strength that the bruised reed is never broken. We do not enough look at our trials in this continuous and successive view. Each one is sent to teach us something, and altogether they have a lesson which is beyond the power of any to teach alone.

H. E. MANNING.

July 6

I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee.--ISA. xlii. 6.

O keep my soul, and deliver me: for I put my trust in Thee.--PS. xxv. 20.

I do not ask my cross to understand, My way to see; Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand, And follow Thee.

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER.

O Lord, if only my will may remain right and firm towards Thee, do with me whatsoever it shall please Thee. For it cannot be anything but good, whatsoever Thou shalt do with me. If it be Thy will I should be in darkness, be Thou blessed; and, if it be Thy will I should be in light, be Thou again blessed. If Thou vouchsafe to comfort me, be Thou blessed; and, if Thou wilt have me afflicted, be Thou equally blessed. O Lord! for Thy sake I will cheerfully suffer whatever shall come on me with Thy permission.

THOMAS À KEMPIS.

My soul could not incline itself on the one side or the other, since another will had taken the place of its own; but only nourished itself with the daily providences of God.

MADAME GUYON.