Part 19 (1/2)

April 14

_All thing are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is G.o.d's_.--I COR. iii. 21, 22, 23.

_As having nothing, and yet possessing all things_,--2 COR. vi. 10.

Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be, As more of heaven in each we see: Some softening gleam of love and prayer Shall dawn on every cross and care.

J. KEBLE.

Out of love and hatred, out of earnings, and borrowings, and lendings, and losses; out of sickness and pain, out of wooing and wors.h.i.+pping; out of travelling, and voting, and watching, and caring; out of disgrace and contempt, comes our tuition in the serene and beautiful laws. Let him not slur his lesson; let him learn it by heart. Let him endeavor exactly, bravely, and cheerfully, to solve the problem of that life which is set before _him_. And this, by punctual action, and not by promises or dreams.

Believing, as in G.o.d, in the presence and favor of the grandest influences, let him deserve that favor, and learn how to receive and use it, by fidelity also to the lower observances.

R. W. EMERSON.

April 15

_We know that all things work together for good to them that love G.o.d_.--ROM. viii. 28.

_As for you, ye thought evil against me; but G.o.d meant it unto good_.--GEN.

1. 20.

Ill that He blesses is our good, And unblest good is ill; And all is right that seems most wrong, If it be His sweet Will.

F. W. FABER.

To those who know themselves, all things work together for good, and all things seem to be, as they are to them, good. The goods which G.o.d gives seem ”very good,” and G.o.d Himself in them, because they know that they deserve them not. The evils which G.o.d allows and overrules seem also ”very good,” because they see in them His loving hand, put forth to heal them of what shuts out G.o.d from the soul. They love G.o.d intensely, in that He is so good to them in each, and every, the least good, because it is more than they deserve: how much more in the greatest! They love G.o.d for every, and each, the very greatest of what seem evils, knowing them to be, from His love, real goods. For He by whom ”all the hairs of our head are numbered,”

and who ”knoweth whereof we are made,” directs everything which befalls us in life, in perfect wisdom and love, to the well-being of our souls.

E. B. PUSEY.

April 16

_The very G.o.d of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray G.o.d your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it_.--I THESS. v. 23, 24.

Be still, my soul!--the Lord is on thy side; Bear patiently the cross of grief and pain; Leave to thy G.o.d to order and provide,-- In every change He faithful will remain.

HYMNS FROM THE LAND OF LUTHER.

It was no relief from temporal evils that the Apostle promised. No; the mercy of G.o.d might send them to the stake, or the lions; it was still His mercy, if it but kept them ”unspotted from the world.” It might expose them to insult, calumny, and wrong; they received it still as mercy, if it ”established them in every good word and work.” O brethren! how many of _you_ are content with _such_ faithfulness as this on the part of your heavenly Father? Is this, indeed, the tone and tenor of your prayers?

WM. ARCHER BUTLER.