Part 77

Set yourself steadfastly to those duties which have the least attractive exterior; it matters not whether God's holy will be fulfilled in great or small matters. Be patient with yourself and your own failings; never be in a hurry, and do not yield to longings after that which is impossible to you. My dear sister, go on steadily and quietly; if our dear Lord means you to run, He will "strengthen your heart."

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.

Always begin by doing that which costs me most, unless the easier duty is a pressing one. Examine, classify, and determine at night the work of the morrow; arrange things in the order of their importance, and act accordingly. Dread, above all things, bitterness and irritation. Never say, or indirectly recall anything to my advantage.

MADAME SWET CHINE,

October 14

He that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death.--PROV. viii. 36.

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.--ROM. vi. 22, 23.

O Sovereign Love, to Thee I cry! Give me Thyself, or else I die! Save me from death; from hell set free! Death, hell, are but the want of Thee. Quickened by Thy imparted flame, Saved when possessed of Thee, I am: My life, my only heaven Thou art; O might I feel Thee in my heart!

C. WESLEY.

Sin itself is hell, and death, and misery to the soul, as being a departure from goodness and holiness itself; I mean from God, in conjunction with whom the happiness, and blessedness, and heaven of a soul doth consist. Avoid it, therefore, as you would avoid being miserable.

SAMUEL SHAW.

"I could n't live in peace if I put the shadow of a wilful sin between myself and God."

GEORGE ELIOT.

Unholy tempers are always unhappy tempers.

JOHN WESLEY.

October 15

Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.--PS. xl. 12, 13.

Sin shall not have dominion over you.--ROM. vi. 14.

O Thou, to whose all-searching sight The darkness shineth as the light! Search, prove my heart; it pants for Thee; Oh, burst these bonds, and set it free!

G. TERSTEEGEN.

Yes, this sin which has sent me weary-hearted to bed and desperate in heart to morning work, that has made my plans miscarry until I am a coward, that cuts me off from prayer, that robs the sky of blueness and the earth of springtime, and the air of freshness, and human faces of friendliness,--this blasting sin which perhaps has made my bed in hell for me so long,--this can be conquered. I do not say annihilated, but, better than that, conquered, captured and transfigured into a friend: so that I at last shall say, "My temptation has become my strength! for to the very fight with it I owe my force."

W. C. GANNETT.

October 16

I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant.--GEN. xxxii. 10.

Some murmur if their sky is clear, And wholly bright to view, If one small speck of dark appear In their great heaven of blue: And some with thankful love are filled, If but one streak of light, One ray of God's good mercy, gild The darkness of their night.

R. C. TRENCH.

Habitual sufferers are precisely those who least frequently doubt the Divine benevolence, and whose faith and love rise to the serenest cheerfulness. Possessed by no idea of a prescriptive right to be happy, their blessings are not benumbed by anticipation, but come to them fresh and brilliant as the first day's morning and evening light to the dwellers in Paradise. With the happy it is their constant peace that seems to come by nature, and to be blunted by its commonness,--and their griefs to come from God, sharpened by their sacred origin; with the sufferer, it is his pain that appears to be a thing of course, and to require no explanation, while his relief is reverently welcomed as a divine interposition, and, as a breath of Heaven, caresses the heart into melodies of praise.

J. MARTINEAU.