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

regard whether you do or not, whether you be bewildered, whether you be happy? Cannot you utterly and perfectly love, and rejoice to be in the dark, and gloom-beset, because that very thing is the fact of God's Infinite Being as it is to you? Cannot you take this trial also into your own heart, and be ignorant, not because you are obliged, but because that being God's will, it is yours also? Do you not see that a person who truly loves is one with the Infinite Being--cannot be uncomfortable or unhappy? It is that which is that he wills and desires and holds best of all to be. To know God is utterly to sacrifice self.

JAMES HINTON.

September 28

_My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed, and in truth_.--I JOHN iii. 18.

_But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves_.--JAMES i. 22.

Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers, Whose loves in higher love endure; What souls possess themselves so pure, Or is there blessedness like theirs?

A. TENNYSON.

Let every creature have your love. Love, with its fruits of meekness, patience, and humility, is all that we can wish for to ourselves, and our fellow-creatures; for this is to live in God, united to Him, both for time and eternity. To desire to communicate good to every creature, in the degree we can, and it is capable of receiving from us, is a divine temper; for thus God stands unchangeably disposed towards the whole creation.

WM. LAW.

What shall be our reward for loving our neighbor as ourselves in this life? That, when we become angels, we shall be enabled to love him better than ourselves.

E. SWEDENBORG.

September 29

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.--MATT. v. 8.

_Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord_.--HEB. xii. 14.

Since Thou Thyself dost still display Unto the pure in heart, Oh, make us children of the day To know Thee as Thou art. For Thou art light and life and love; And Thy redeemed below May see Thee as Thy saints above, And know Thee as they know.

J. MONTGOMERY.

Doubt, gloom, impatience, have been expelled; joy has taken their place, the hope of heaven and the harmony of a pure heart, the triumph of self-mastery, sober thoughts, and a contented mind. How can charity towards all men fail to follow, being the mere affectionateness of innocence and peace? Thus the Spirit of God creates in us the simplicity and warmth of heart which children have, nay, rather the perfections of His heavenly hosts, high and low being joined together in His mysterious work; for what are implicit trust, ardent love, abiding purity, but the mind both of little children and of the adoring seraphim!

J. H. NEWMAN.

September 30

_Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart_.--PS. xv. 1, 2.

How happy is he born or taught, That serveth not another's will, Whose armor is his honest thought, And simple truth his utmost skill.

H. WOTTON.

If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason, seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure as if thou shouldest be bound to give it back immediately,--if thou boldest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.

MARCUS ANTONINUS.

October 1

_Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts_.--HAGGAI ii. 4,

Yet the world is Thy field, Thy garden; On earth art Thou still at home. When Thou bendest hither Thy hallowing eye, My narrow work-room seems vast and high, Its dingy ceiling a rainbow-dome,-- Stand ever thus at my wide-swung door, And toil will be toil no more.

L. LARCOM.

The situation that has not its duty, its ideal, was never yet occupied by man. Yes, here, in this poor, miserable, hampered, despicable Actual, wherein thou even now standest, here or nowhere is thy Ideal: work it out therefrom; and working, believe, live, be free. Fool! the Ideal is in thyself, the impediment too is in thyself: thy condition is but the stuff thou art to shape that same Ideal out of: what matters whether such stuff be of this sort or that, so the form thou givest it be heroic, be poetic. O thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom wherein to rule and create, know this of a truth: the thing thou seekest is already with thee, "here or nowhere," couldst thou only see!

T. CARLYLE.

October 2

I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.--PS. xvii. 3.

_In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise_.--PROV. x. 19.

Prune thou thy words; the thoughts control That o'er thee swell and throng; They will condense within thy soul, And change to purpose strong.

J. H. NEWMAN.

Few men suspect how much mere talk fritters away spiritual energy,--that which should be spent in action, spends itself in words. Hence he who restrains that love of talk, lays up a fund of spiritual strength.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

Do not flatter yourself that your thoughts are under due control, your desires properly regulated, or your dispositions subject as they should be to Christian principle, if your intercourse with others consists mainly of frivolous gossip, impertinent anecdotes, speculations on the character and affairs of your neighbors, the repetition of former conversations, or a discussion of the current petty scandal of society; much less, if you allow yourself in careless exaggeration on all these points, and that grievous inattention to exact truth, which is apt to attend the statements of those whose conversation is made up of these materials.

H. WARE, JR.

October 3

Judge not, that ye be not judged.--MATT. vii. 1.

_Why beboldest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye_?--LUKE vi. 41.

Judge not; the workings of his brain And of his heart thou canst not see; What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, In God's pure light may only be A scar, brought from some well-won field, Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER.

When you behold an aspect for whose constant gloom and frown you cannot account, whose unvarying cloud exasperates you by its apparent causelessness, be sure that there is a canker somewhere, and a canker not the less deeply corroding because concealed.

CHARLOTTE BRONTE.

While we are coldly discussing a man's career, sneering at his mistakes, blaming his rashness, and labelling his opinions--"Evangelical and narrow," or "Latitudinarian and Pantheistic," or "Anglican and supercilious"--that man, in his solitude, is perhaps shedding hot tears because his sacrifice is a hard one, because strength and patience are failing him to speak the difficult word, and do the difficult deed.

GEORGE ELIOT.

October 4

_Be strong, and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest_.--JOSH. i. 9.

By Thine unerring Spirit led, We shall not in the desert stray; We shall not full direction need, Nor miss our providential way; As far from danger as from fear, While love, almighty love, is near.

CHARLES WESLEY.

Watch your way then, as a cautious traveller; and don't be gazing at that mountain or river in the distance, and saying, "How shall I ever get over them?" but keep to the present little inch that is before you, and accomplish that in the little moment that belongs to it. The mountain and the river can only be passed in the same way; and, when you come to them, you will come to the light and strength that belong to them.

M. A. KELTY.

Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which thou now usest for present things.

MARCUS ANTONINUS.

October 5

Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not.--ISA. xxxv. 4.

Why shouldst them fill to-day with sorrow About to-morrow, My heart? One watches all with care most true, Doubt not that He will give thee too Thy part.

PAUL FLEMMING.

The crosses which we make for ourselves by a restless anxiety as to the future, are not crosses which come from God. We show want of faith in Him by our false wisdom, wishing to forestall His arrangements, and struggling to supplement His Providence by our own providence. The future is not yet ours; perhaps it never will be. If it comes, it may come wholly different from what we have foreseen. Let us shut our eyes, then, to that which God hides from us, and keeps in reserve in the treasures of His deep counsels. Let us worship without seeing; let us be silent; let us abide in peace.

FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.

October 6

_I had fainted, unless I bad believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living_--PS. xxvii. 13.

I will surely do thee good.--GEN. xxxii. 12.

Thou know'st not what is good for thee, But God doth know,-- Let Him thy strong reliance be, And rest thee so.

C. F. GELLERT.

Let us be very careful of thinking, on the one hand, that we have no work assigned us to do, or, on the other hand, that what we have assigned to us is not the right thing for us. If ever we can say in our hearts to God, in reference to any daily duty, "This is not my place; I would choose something dearer; I am capable of something higher;" we are guilty not only of rebellion, but of blasphemy. It is equivalent to saying, not only, "My heart revolts against Thy commands," but "Thy commands are unwise; Thine Almighty guidance is unskilful; Thine omniscient eye has mistaken the capacities of Thy creature; Thine infinite love is indifferent to the welfare of Thy child."

ELIZABETH CHARLES.

October 7

_And because ye are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father_.--GAL. iv. 6.

O Lord, forgive my sin, And deign to put within A calm, obedient heart, a patient mind; That I may murmur not, Though bitter seem my lot; For hearts unthankful can no blessing find.

M. RUTILIUS, 1604.

Resignation to the Divine Will signifies a cheerful approbation and thankful acceptance of everything that comes from God. It is not enough patiently to submit, but we must thankfully receive and fully approve of everything that, by the order of God's providence, happens to us. For there is no reason why we should be patient, but what is as good and as strong a reason why we should be thankful. Whenever, therefore, you find yourself disposed to uneasiness or murmuring at any thing that is the effect of God's providence over you, you must look upon yourself as denying either