Part 16 (1/2)

E. SCUDDER.

Notwithstanding all that I have suffered, notwithstanding all the pain and weariness and anxiety and sorrow that necessarily enter into life, and the inward errings that are worse than all, I would end my record with a devout thanksgiving to the great Author of my being. For more and more am I unwilling to make my grat.i.tude to Him what is commonly called ”a thanksgiving for mercies,”--for any benefits or blessings that are peculiar to myself, or my friends, or indeed to any man. Instead of this, I would have it to be grat.i.tude for _all_ that belongs to my life and being,--for joy and sorrow, for health and sickness, for success and disappointment, for virtue and for temptation, for life and death; because I believe that all is meant for good.

ORVILLE DEWEY.

March 29

_There shall no evil befall thee_.--PS. xci. 10.

_Whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil_.--PROV. i. 33.

I ask not, ”Take away this weight of care;”

No, for that love I pray that all can bear, And for the faith that whatsoe'er befall Must needs be good, and for my profit prove, Since from my Father's heart most rich in love, And from His bounteous hands it cometh all.

C. J. P. SPITTA.

Be like the promontory, against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm, and tames the fury of the water around it. Unhappy am I, because this has happened to me? Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present, nor fearing the future. Will then this which has happened prevent thee from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood? Remember, too, on every occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle: that this is not a misfortune, but that to bear it n.o.bly is good fortune.

MARCUS ANTONINUS.

March 30

_Thou shall guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory_.--PS. lxxiii. 24.

_There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of G.o.d_.--HEB. iv. 9.

Guide us through life; and when at last We enter into rest, Thy tender arms around us cast, And fold us to Thy breast.

H. F. LYTE.

Go forth to meet the solemnities and to conquer the trials of existence, believing in a Shepherd of your souls. Then faith in Him will support you in duty, and duty firmly done will strengthen faith; till at last, when all is over here, and the noise and strife of the earthly battle fades upon your dying ear, and you hear, instead thereof, the deep and musical sound of the ocean of eternity, and see the lights of heaven s.h.i.+ning on its waters still and fair in their radiant rest, your faith will raise the song of conquest, and in its retrospect of the life which has ended, and its forward glance upon the life to come, take up the poetic inspiration of the Hebrew king, ”Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

STOPFORD A. BROOKE.

March 31

_Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace_.--JOB v. 23, 24.

Love had he found in huts where poor men lie; His daily teachers had been woods and rills, The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills.

W. Wordsworth.