Daily Strength for Daily Needs, Mary W. Tileston [good book recommendations .TXT] 📗

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SUSAN COOLIDGE.

Be patient with every one, but above all with yourself. I mean, do not be disturbed because of your imperfections, and always rise up bravely from a fall. I am glad that you make a daily new beginning; there is no better means of progress in the spiritual life than to be continually beginning afresh, and never to think that we have done enough.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.

Because perseverance is so difficult, even when supported by the grace of God, thence is the value of new beginnings. For new beginnings are the life of perseverance.

E. B. PUSEY.

July 2

_Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men_.--ACTS xxiv. 16.

_I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye_.--PS. xxxii. 8.

Oh, keep thy conscience sensitive; No inward token miss; And go where grace entices thee;-- Perfection lies in this.

F. W. FABER.

We need only obey. There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word.

R. W. EMERSON.

The heights of Christian perfection can only be reached by faithfully each moment following the Guide who is to lead you there, and He reveals your way to you one step at a time, in the little things of your daily lives, asking only on your part that you yield yourselves up to His guidance. If then, in anything you feel doubtful or troubled, be sure that it is the voice of your Lord, and surrender it at once to His bidding, rejoicing with a great joy that He has begun thus to lead and guide you.

H. W. SMITH.

July 3

He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.--PS. cxxx. 8.

Be it according to Thy word; Redeem me from all sin; My heart would now receive Thee, Lord, Come in, my Lord, come in!

C. WESLEY.

When you wake, or as soon as you are dressed, offer up your whole self to God, soul and body, thoughts and purposes and desires, to be for that day what He wills. Think of the occasions of the sin likely to befall you, and go, as a child, to your Father which is in heaven, and tell Him in childlike, simple words, your trials--in some such simple words as these--"Thou knowest, good Lord, that I am tempted to--[_then name the temptations to it, and the ways in which you sin, as well as you know them_]. But, good Lord, for love of Thee, I would this day keep wholly from all [naming the sin] and be very [naming the opposite grace]. I will not, by Thy grace, do one [N.] act, or speak one [N.] word, or give one [N.] look, or harbor one [N.] thought in my soul. If Thou allow any of these temptations to come upon me this day, I desire to think, speak, and do only what Thou willest. Lord, without Thee I can do nothing; with Thee I can do all."

E. B. PUSEY.

July 4

_Look at the generations of old, and see; did ever any trust in the Lord, and was confounded? or did any abide in His fear, and was forsaken? or whom did He ever despise, that called upon Him_?--ECCLESIASTICUS ii. 10.

_Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies, and Thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old_.--PS. xxv. 6.

My Father! see I trust the faithfulness displayed of old, I trust the love that never can grow cold-- I trust in Thee.

CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER.

Be not so much discouraged in the sight of what is yet to be done, as comforted in His good-will towards thee. 'Tis true, He hath chastened thee with rods and sore afflictions; but did He ever take away His loving-kindness from thee? or did His faithfulness ever fail in the sorest, blackest, thickest, darkest night that ever befell thee?

I. PENINGTON.

WE call Him the "God of our fathers;" and we feel that there is some stability at centre, while we can tell our cares to One listening at our right hand, by whom theirs are remembered and removed.

J. MARTINEAU.

July 5

He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind.--ISA. xxvii. 8.

A bruised reed shall He not break.--ISA. xlii. 3.

All my life I still have found, And I will forget it never; Every sorrow hath its bound, And no cross endures forever. All things else have but their day, God's love only lasts for aye.

P. GERHARDT.

We never have more than we can bear. The present hour we are always able to endure. As our day, so is our strength. If the trials of many years were gathered into one, they would overwhelm us; therefore, in pity to our little strength, He sends first one, then another, then removes both, and lays on a third, heavier, perhaps, than either; but all is so wisely measured to our strength that the bruised reed is never broken. We do not enough look at our trials in this continuous and successive view. Each one is sent to teach us something, and altogether they have a lesson which is beyond the power of any to teach alone.

H. E. MANNING.

July 6

_I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee_.--ISA. xlii. 6.

O keep my soul, and deliver me: for I put my trust in Thee.--PS. xxv. 20.

I do not ask my cross to understand, My way to see; Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand, And follow Thee.

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER.

O Lord, if only my will may remain right and firm towards Thee, do with me whatsoever it shall please Thee. For it cannot be anything but good, whatsoever Thou shalt do with me. If it be Thy will I should be in darkness, be Thou blessed; and, if it be Thy will I should be in light, be Thou again blessed. If Thou vouchsafe to comfort me, be Thou blessed; and, if Thou wilt have me afflicted, be Thou equally blessed. O Lord! for Thy sake I will cheerfully suffer whatever shall come on me with Thy permission.

THOMAS À KEMPIS.

My soul could not incline itself on the one side or the other, since another will had taken the place of its own; but only nourished itself with the daily providences of God.

MADAME GUYON.

July 7

_The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid_?--PS. xxvii. I.

Thou hidden Source of calm repose, Thou all-sufficient Love divine, My Help and Refuge from my foes, Secure I am while Thou art mine: And lo! from sin, and grief, and shame, I hide me, Father, in Thy name.

C. WESLEY.

Whatever troubles come on you, of mind, body, or estate, from within or from without, from chance or from intent, from friends or foes--whatever your trouble be, though you be lonely, O children of a heavenly Father, be not afraid!

J. H. NEWMAN.

Whatsoever befalleth thee, receive it not from the hand of any creature, but from Him alone, and render back all to Him, seeking in all things His pleasure and honor, the purifying and subduing of thyself. What can harm thee, when all must first touch God, within whom thou hast enclosed thyself?

R. LEIGHTON.

How God rejoices over a soul, which, surrounded on all sides by suffering and misery, does that upon earth which the angels do in heaven; namely, loves, adores, and praises God!

G. TERSTEEGEN.

July 8

Be ye kind one to another.--EPH. iv. 32.

She doeth little kindnesses Which most leave undone or despise; For nought which sets one heart at ease, And giveth happiness or peace, Is low-esteemed in her eyes.

J. R. LOWELL.

What was the secret of such a one's power? What had she done? Absolutely nothing; but radiant smiles, beaming good-humor, the tact of divining what every one felt and every one wanted, told that she had got out of self and learned to think of others; so that at one time it showed itself in deprecating the quarrel, which lowering brows and raised tones already showed to be impending, by sweet words; at another, by smoothing an invalid's pillow; at another, by soothing a sobbing child; at another, by humoring and softening a father who had returned weary and ill-tempered from the irritating cares of business. None but she saw those things. None but a loving heart could see them. That was the secret of her heavenly power. The one who will be found in trial capable of great acts of love, is ever the one who is always doing considerate small ones.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

July 9

_Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God_.--I JOHN iv. 7.

_Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel (or "complaint") against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye_.--COL. iii. 13.

Oh, might we all our lineage prove, Give and forgive, do good and love; By soft endearments, in kind strife, Lightening the load of daily life.

J. KEBLE.

We may, if we choose, make the worst of one another. Every one has his weak points; every one has his faults: we may make the worst of these; we may fix our attention constantly upon these. But we may also make the best of one another. We may forgive, even as we hope to be forgiven. We may put ourselves in the place of others, and ask what we should wish to be done to us, and thought of us, were we in their place. By loving whatever is lovable in those around us, love will flow back from them to us, and life will become a pleasure instead of a pain; and earth will become like heaven; and we shall become not unworthy followers of Him whose name is Love.

A. P. STANLEY.

July 10

_The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever: forsake not the--works of Thine own hands_.--PS. cxxxviii. 8.

As God leads me, will I go,-- Nor choose my way; Let Him choose the joy or woe Of every day: They cannot hurt my soul, Because in His control: I leave to Him the whole,-- His children may.

L. GEDICKE.

Why is it that we are so busy with the future? It is not our province; and is there not a criminal interference with Him to whom it belongs, in our feverish, anxious attempts to dispose of it, and in filling it up with shadows of good and evil shaped by our own wild imaginations? To do God's will as fast as it is made known to us, to inquire hourly--I had almost said each moment--what He requires of us, and to leave ourselves, our friends, and every interest at His control, with a cheerful trust that the path which He marks out leads to our perfection and to Himself,--this is at once our duty and happiness; and why will we not walk in the plain, simple way?

WILLIAM E. CHANNING.

July 11

When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?--JOB xxxiv. 29.

None of these things move me.--ACTS xx. 24.

I've many a cross