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God doth suffice! Oh thou, the patient one,
Who puttest faith in Him, and none beside,
Bear yet thy load; under the setting sun

The glad tents gleam; thou wilt be satisfied.

By God's gold Afternoon! peace ye shall have;
Man is in loss except he live aright,

And help his fellow to be firm and brave,
Faithful and patient; then the restful night!

Al-Mughni! best Rewarder! we
Endure; putting our trust in Thee.

EDWIN ARNOLD: Pearls of the Faith.

July 4.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.-ISA. xl. 31.

WITH

ITH an habitual sense of the Divine presence and care, the trials of life are lightened. That cloud which, drifting alone in the heavens, was so black, when seen in the light of a merciful Providence, shines with celestial radiance. EPHRAIM PEABODY.

WITH mercy and with judgment

My web of time He wove,

And aye the dews of sorrow

Were lustred with His love.

I'll bless the hand that guided,
I'll bless the heart that planned,

When throned where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.

If the way of heaven be narrow, it is not long; and if

the gate be strait, it opens into endless life.

BISHOP BEVERIDGE.

SONNET.

I THINK we are too ready with complaint
In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope
Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope
Of yon gray blank of sky, we might be faint
To muse upon Eternity's constraint

Round our aspirant souls. But since the scope
Must widen early, is it well to droop, '

For a few days consumed in loss and taint?
O pusillanimous heart, be comforted,
And, like a cheerful traveller, take the rod,
Singing, beside the hedge. What if the bread
Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
To meet the flints? At least it may be said,
Because the way is short, I thank Thee, God!

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

July 5.

All things are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. I COR. iii. 23.

IN

N harmony with the great centre, you will be in har-* mony with all things in His universe. Nature will serve him who serves her God; and all her varied powers and agencies will rejoice to obey the behests and minister to the welfare of one who is the loved and loving child of their great Master and Lord. For you the morning will dawn, and the evening descend. For you "the winds will blow, earth rest, heavens move, and fountains flow." You will be able to claim a peculiar property in the works of your Father's hand, and the bounties of your Father's providence. You have become "heir of God, and joint heir with Christ." And so "the world" and the fulness thereof will become " yours," because " Christ's, and Christ is God's."

ye are

DR. BAIRD.

GO FORTH, MY HEART.

Go forth, my heart, and seek delight
In all the gifts of God's great might,
These pleasant summer hours;
Look how the plains for thee and me
Have decked themselves most fair to see,
All bright and sweet with flowers.

The trees stand thick and dark with leaves,
And earth o'er all her dust now weaves
A robe of living green;

Nor silks of Solomon compare
With glories that the tulips wear,
Or lilies' spotless sheen.

Thy mighty working, mighty God,
Wakes all my powers; I look abroad
And can no longer rest;

I too must sing when all things sing,
And from my heart the praises ring
The Highest loveth best.

LYRA GERMANICA (Tr. Catherine Winkworth).

July 6.

Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.-Ps. lxxxix. 14.

GOD

OD has a definite life-plan set for every man; one that, being accepted and followed, will conduct him to the best and noblest end possible. And so, as you pass on, stage by stage, in your courses of experience, it is made clear to you that whatever you have laid upon you to do or suffer, whatever to want, whatever to surrender or conquer, is exactly best for you. Your life is a school, exactly adapted to your lesson, and that to the best, last end of your existence. No room for a

discouraged or depressed feeling, therefore, is left you. Enough that you exist for a purpose high enough to give meaning to life, and to support a genuine inspiration. If your sphere is outwardly humble, God understands it better than you do, and it is a part of His wisdom to bring out great sentiments in humble conditions, great characters under great adversities and heavy loads of incumbrance.

HORACE BUSHNELL.

COMFORT.

WHATE'ER My God ordains is right;
His will is ever just;
Howe'er He orders now my cause,
I will be still and trust.
He is my God;

Though dark my road,

He holds me that I shall not fall;
Wherefore to Him I leave it all.

Whate'er my God ordains is right;
He never will deceive;

He leads me by His own right path;
And so to Him I cleave,

And take, content,

What He hath sent.

His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait His day.

Whate'er my God ordains is right;
Though I the cup must drink
That bitter seems to my faint heart,
I will not fear nor shrink;

Tears pass away

With dawn of day;

Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow all depart.

July 7.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known : I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. - ISA. xlii. 16.

WHEN

HEN the song 's gone out of your life, you can't start another while it 's a-ringing in your ears; it's best to have a bit o' silence, and out 'o that maybe a psalm 'll come, by-and-by.

EDWARD GARRETT.

RELIGION is to be estimated chiefly by experience. We know little, in such affairs, that we have not lived. Sorrow is sanctified only to those who have summoned their highest energies to live above it. Bereavement is changed to gain only when we turn from our loss to cling more closely to the life in God and humanity. Death is hallowed only when it makes us think and feel more deeply on everlasting life.

LOSS.

AND after He has come to hide

Our lambs upon the other side,

We know our Shepherd and our Guide.

And thus, by ways not understood,

Out of each dark vicissitude

God brings us compensating good.

For faith is perfected by fears,

And souls renew their youth with years,
And Love looks into heaven through tears.

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