Part 20 (1/2)

_Into Thy hand I commit my spirit_.--PS. x.x.xi. 5.

Thou layest Thy hand on the fluttering heart, And sayest, ”Be still!”

The silence and shadow are only a part Of Thy sweet will; Thy presence is with me, and where Thou art I fear no ill.

F. R. HAVERGAL.

Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of G.o.d, to turn thy mind to the Lord G.o.d, from whom life comes; whereby thou mayest receive His strength, and power to allay all bl.u.s.tering storms and tempests. That is it which works up into patience, into innocency, into soberness, into stillness, into stayedness, into quietness, up to G.o.d with His power. Therefore be still awhile from thy own thoughts, searching, seeking, desires, and imaginations, and be stayed in the principle of G.o.d in thee, that it may raise thy mind up to G.o.d, and stay it upon G.o.d; and thou wilt find strength from Him, and find Him to be a G.o.d at hand, a present help in the time of trouble and need.

GEORGE FOX.

April 20

_I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry_.--PS. xl. 1.

_Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope,_--ROM. v. 3, 4.

Lord, we have wandered forth through doubt and sorrow, And Thou hast made each step an onward one; And we will ever trust each unknown morrow,-- Thou wilt sustain us till its work is done.

S. JOHNSON.

It is possible, when the future is dim, when our depressed faculties can form no bright ideas of the perfection and happiness of a better world,--it is possible still to cling to the conviction of G.o.d's merciful purpose towards His creatures, of His parental goodness even in suffering; still to feel that the path of duty, though trodden with a heavy heart, leads to peace; still to be true to conscience; still to do our work, to resist temptation, to be useful, though with diminished energy, to give up our wills when we cannot rejoice under G.o.d's mysterious providence. In this patient, though uncheered obedience, we become prepared for light. The soul gathers force.

WM. E. CHANNING.

April 21

_Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect_.--MATT. v. 48.

_As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness_.--PS. xvii. 15.

The righteousness he marks in Thee His will to right doth win; Delighting in Thy purity, He deeply drinks it in.

T. H. GILL.

To love G.o.d is to love His character. For instance, G.o.d is Purity. And to be pure in thought and look, to turn away from unhallowed books and conversation, to abhor the moments in which we have not been pure, is to love G.o.d. G.o.d is Love; and to love men till private attachments have expanded into a philanthropy which embraces all,--at last even the evil and enemies with compa.s.sion,--that is to love G.o.d. G.o.d is Truth. To be true, to hate every form of falsehood, to live a brave, true, real life,--that is to love G.o.d. G.o.d is Infinite; and to love the boundless, reaching on from grace to grace, adding charity to faith, and rising upwards ever to see the Ideal still above us, and to die with it unattained, aiming insatiably to be perfect even as the Father is perfect,--that is to love G.o.d.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

April 22

_Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory_.--I PETER i.

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