Part 33 (1/2)

F. W. FABER.

Every relation to mankind, of hate or scorn or neglect, is full of vexation and torment. There is nothing to do with men but to love them; to contemplate their virtues with admiration, their faults with pity and forbearance, and their injuries with forgiveness. Task all the ingenuity of your mind to devise some other thing, but you never can find it. To hate your adversary will not help you; to kill him will not help you; nothing within the compa.s.s of the universe can help you, but to love him. But let that love flow out upon all around you, and what could harm you? How many a knot of mystery and misunderstanding would be untied by one word spoken in simple and confiding truth of heart! How many a solitary place would be made glad if love were there; and how many a dark dwelling would be filled with light!

ORVILLE DEWEY.

June 27

_The kingdom of G.o.d is within you_.--LUKE xvii. 21.

Oh, take this heart that I would give Forever to be all Thine own; I to myself no more would live,-- Come, Lord, be Thou my King alone.

G. TERSTEEGEN.

Herein is the work a.s.signed to the individual soul, to have life in itself, to make our sphere, whatever it is, sufficient for a reign of G.o.d within ourselves, for a true and full reign of our Father's abounding spirit,--thankful, unutterably thankful, if with the place and the companions.h.i.+p a.s.signed to us we are permitted to build an earthly tabernacle of grace and goodness and holy love, a home like a temple; but, should this be denied us, resolved for our own souls that G.o.d shall reign there, for ourselves at least that we will not, by sin or disobedience or impious distrust, break with our own wills, our filial connection with our Father,--that whether joyful or sorrowing, struggling with the perplexity and foulness of circ.u.mstance, or in an atmosphere of peace, whether in dear fellows.h.i.+p or alone, our desire and prayer shall be that G.o.d may have in us a realm where His will is law, and where obedience and submission spring, not from calculating prudence or unG.o.dly fear, but from communion of spirit, ever humble aspiration, and ever loving trust.

J. H. THOM.

June 28

_The Lord preserveth the simple_.--PS. cxvi. 6.

Thy home is with the humble, Lord!

The simple are Thy rest; Thy lodging is in childlike hearts; Thou makest there Thy nest.

F. W. FABER.

This deliverance of the soul from all useless and selfish and unquiet cares, brings to it an unspeakable peace and freedom; this is true simplicity. This state of entire resignation and perpetual acquiescence produces true liberty; and this liberty brings perfect simplicity. The soul which knows no self-seeking, no interested ends, is thoroughly candid; it goes straight forward without hindrance; its path opens daily more and more to ”perfect day,” in proportion as its self-renunciation and its self-forgetfulness increase; and its peace, amid whatever troubles beset it, will be as boundless as the depths of the sea.

FRANcOIS DE LA MOTHE FeNELON.

June 29

_Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off_.--I KINGS xx. 11.

_Put on the whole armor of G.o.d_.--EPH. vi. 11.

Was I not girded for the battle-field?

Bore I not helm of pride and glittering sword?

Behold the fragments of my broken s.h.i.+eld, And lend to me Thy heavenly armor, Lord!