Part 97

December 26

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.--PHIL. iv. 7.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.--COL. iii. 15.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace.

J. G. WHITTIER.

"These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." What is fulness of joy but peace? Joy is tumultuous only when it is not full; but peace is the privilege of those who are "filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." It is peace, springing from trust and innocence, and then overflowing in love towards all around him.

J. H. NEWMAN.

THROUGH the spirit of Divine Love let the violent, obstinate powers of thy nature be quieted, the hardness of thy affections softened, and thine intractable self-will subdued; and as often as anything contrary stirs within thee, immediately sink into the blessed Ocean of meekness and love.

G. TERSTEEGEN.

December 27

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.--GAL. iv. 7.

Not by the terrors of a slave God's sons perform His will, But with the noblest powers they have His sweet commands fulfil.

ISAAC WATTS.

Our thoughts, good or bad, are not in our command, but every one of us has at all hours duties to do, and these he can do negligently, like a slave, or faithfully, like a true servant. "Do the duty that is nearest thee"--that first, and that well; all the rest will disclose themselves with increasing clearness, and make their successive demand. Were your duties never so small, I advise you, set yourself with double and treble energy and punctuality, to do them, hour after hour, day after day.

T. CARLYLE.

Whatever we are, high or lowly, learned or unlearned, married or single, in a full house or alone, charged with many affairs or dwelling in quietness, we have our daily round of work, our duties of affection, obedience, love, mercy, industry, and the like; and that which makes one man to differ from another is not so much what things he does, as his manner of doing them.

H. E. MANNING.

December 28

Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ.--HEB. xiii. 20, 21.

Be ready to every good work.--TITUS iii. I.

So, firm in steadfast hope, in thought secure, In full accord to all Thy world of joy, May I be nerved to labors high and pure, And Thou Thy child to do Thy work employ.

J. STERLING.

Be with God in thy outward works, refer them to Him, offer them to Him, seek to do them in Him and for Him, and He will be with thee in them, and they shall not hinder, but rather invite His presence in thy soul. Seek to see Him in all things, and in all things He will come nigh to thee.

E. B. PUSEY.

Nothing less than the majesty of God, and the powers of the world to come, can maintain the peace and sanctity of our homes, the order and serenity of our minds, the spirit of patience and tender mercy in our hearts. Then will even the merest drudgery of duty cease to humble us, when we transfigure it by the glory of our own spirit.

J. MARTINEAU.

December 29

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report,--think on these things.--PHIL. iv. 8.