Part 69

September 13

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.--LAM. iii. 26.

Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation.--PS. lxii. I.

Not so in haste, my heart; Have faith in God, and wait; Although He linger long, He never comes too late.

ANON.

The true use to be made of all the imperfections of which you are conscious is neither to justify, nor to condemn them, but to present them before God, conforming your will to His, and remaining in peace; for peace is the divine order, in whatever state we may be.

FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.

You will find it less easy to uproot faults, than to choke them by gaining virtues. Do not think of your faults; still less of others' faults; in every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong: honor that; rejoice in it; and, as you can, try to imitate it; and your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.

J. RUSKIN.

September 14

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.--JER. xxxiii. 3.

And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked.--I KINGS iii. 13.

No voice of prayer to Thee can rise, But swift as light Thy Love replies; Not always what we ask, indeed, But, O most Kind! what most we need.

H. M. KIMBALL.

If you have any trial which seems intolerable, pray,--pray that it be relieved or changed. There is no harm in that. We may pray for anything, not wrong in itself, with perfect freedom, if we do not pray selfishly. One disabled from duty by sickness may pray for health, that he may do his work; or one hemmed in by internal impediments may pray for utterance, that he may serve better the truth and the right. Or, if we have a besetting sin, we may pray to be delivered from it, in order to serve God and man, and not be ourselves Satans to mislead and destroy. But the answer to the prayer may be, as it was to Paul, not the removal of the thorn, but, instead, a growing insight into its meaning and value. The voice of God in our soul may show us, as we look up to Him, that His strength is enough to enable us to bear it.

J. F. CLARKE.

September 15

Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?--MARK. x. 38.

Whate'er my God ordains is right; Though I the cup must drink That bitter seems to my faint heart, I will not fear nor shrink.

S. RODIGAST.

The worst part of martyrdom is not the last agonizing moment; it is the wearing, daily steadfastness. Men who can make up their minds to hold out against the torture of an hour have sunk under the weariness and the harass of small prolonged vexations. And there are many Christians who have the weight of some deep, incommunicable grief pressing, cold as ice, upon their hearts. To bear that cheerfully and manfully is to be a martyr. There is many a Christian bereaved and stricken in the best hopes of life. For such a one to say quietly, "Father, not as I will, but as Thou wilt," is to be a martyr. There is many a Christian who feels the irksomeness of the duties of life, and feels his spirit revolting from them. To get up every morning with the firm resolve to find pleasure in those duties, and do them well, and finish the work which God has given us to do, that is to drink Christ's cup. The humblest occupation has in it materials of discipline for the highest heaven.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

September 16

For the whole world before thee is as a little grain of the balance, yea, as a drop of the morning dew that falleth down upon the earth. But Thou hast mercy upon all. For Thou lovest all the things that are.--WISDOM OF SOLOMON xi. 22-24.

Oh! Source divine, and Life of all, The Fount of Being's fearful sea, Thy depth would every heart appal, That saw not love supreme in Thee.

J. STERLING.

He showed a little thing, the quantity of a hazel-nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as meseemed, and it was as round as a ball. I looked thereon with the eye of my understanding, and thought, "What may this be?" and it was answered generally thus, "It is all that is made." I marvelled how it might last; for methought it might suddenly have fallen to naught for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding, "It lasteth, and ever shall: For God loveth it. And so hath all thing being by the Love of God." In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is, that God made it. The second is, that God loveth it. The third is, that God keepeth it. For this is the cause which we be not all in ease of heart and soul: for we seek here rest in this thing which is so little, where no rest is in: and we know not our God that is all Mighty, all Wise, and all Good, for He is very rest.

MOTHER JULIANA, 1373.