Part 59

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 nourishing and cherishing 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, sunshine, 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, God 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 pass 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 God'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 God 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 God'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.

They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who will not choose Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think; They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three.

J. R. LOWELL.

The real corrupters of society may be, not the corrupt, but those who have held back the righteous leaven, the salt that has lost its savor, the innocent who have not even the moral courage to show what they think of the effrontery of impurity,--the serious, who yet timidly succumb before some loud-voiced scoffer,--the heart trembling all over with religious sensibilities that yet suffers itself through false shame to be beaten down into outward and practical acquiescence by some rude and worldly nature.

J. H. THOM.

August 9

The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.--LUKE xviii. 27.

Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.--PS. xciv. 17.

When obstacles and trials seem Like prison-walls to be, I do the little I can do, And leave the rest to Thee.