Chapter M: A. Kelty

"REST IN THE LORD; WAIT PATIENTLY FOR HIM." In Hebrew, "be silent to God, and let Him mould thee." Keep still, and He will mould thee to the right shape.

MARTIN LUTHER.

May 20

_To be spiritually minded is life and peace_.--ROM. viii. 6.

Stilled now be every anxious care;
See God's great goodness everywhere;
Leave all to Him in perfect rest:
He will do all things for the best.

FROM THE GERMAN.

We should all endeavor and labor for a calmer spirit, that we may the better serve God in praying to Him and praising Him; and serve one another in love, that we may be fitted to do and receive good; that we may make our passage to heaven more easy and cheerful, without drooping and hanging the wing. So much as we are quiet and cheerful upon good ground, so much we live, and are, as it were, in heaven.

R. SIBBES.

Possess yourself as much as you possibly can in peace; not by any effort, but by letting all things fall to the ground which trouble or excite you. This is no work, but is, as it were, a setting down a fluid to settle that has become turbid through agitation.

MADAME GUYON.

May 21

_The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long_.--DEUT. xxxiii. 12.

Whate'er events betide,
Thy will they all perform;
Safe in Thy breast my head I hide,
Nor fear the coming storm.

H. F. LYTE.

I have seemed to see a need of everything God gives me, and want nothing that He denies me. There is no dispensation, though afflictive, but either in it, or after it, I find that I could not be without it. Whether it be taken from or not given me, sooner or later God quiets me in Himself without it. I cast all my concerns on the Lord, and live securely on the care and wisdom of my heavenly Father. My ways, you know, are, in a sense, hedged up with thorns, and grow darker and darker daily; but yet I distrust not my good God in the least, and live more quietly in the absence of all by faith, than I should do, I am persuaded, if I possessed them.

JOSEPH ELIOT, 1664.

May 22

_He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty_.--PS. xci. I.

They who on the Lord rely,
Safely dwell though danger's nigh;
Lo! His sheltering wings are spread
O'er each faithful servant's head.
When they wake, or when they sleep,
Angel guards their vigils keep;
Death and danger may be near,
Faith and love have nought to fear.

HARRIET AUBER.

"There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling," is a promise to the fullest extent verified in the case of all "who dwell in the secret place of the Most High." To them sorrows are not "evils," sicknesses are not "plagues;" the shadow of the Almighty extending far around those who abide under it, alters the character of all things which come within its influence.

ANON.

It is faith's work to claim and challenge loving-kindness out of all the roughest strokes of God.

S. RUTHERFORD.

MAY 23

_Be content with such things as ye have_.--HEB. xiii. 5.

_I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content_.--PHIL. iv. 11 ( R. V.).

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.

J. G. WHITTIER.

If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these:--

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather.

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not.

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself.

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide."

E. B. PUSEY.

May 24

_Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby_.--HEB. xii. I1.

I cannot say,
Beneath the pressure of life's cares to-day,
I joy in these;
But I can say
That I had rather walk this rugged way,
If Him it please.

S. G. BROWNING.

The particular annoyance which befell you this morning; the vexatious words which met your ear and "grieved" your spirit; the disappointment which was His appointment for to-day; the slight but hindering ailment; the presence of some one who is "a grief of mind" to you,--whatever this day seemeth not joyous, but grievous, is linked in "the good pleasure of His goodness" with a corresponding afterward of "peaceable fruit," the very seed from which, if you only do not choke it, this shall spring and ripen.

F. R. HAVERGAL.

May 25

_O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt_.--MATT. xxvi. 39.

O Lord my God, do Thou Thy holy will,--
I will lie still.
I will not stir, lest I forsake Thine arm,
And break the charm
Which lulls me, clinging to my Father's breast,
In perfect rest.

J. KEBLE.

Resignation to the will of God is the whole of piety; it includes in it all that is good; and is a source of the most settled quiet and composure of mind. Our resignation to the will of God may be said to be perfect, when our will is lost and resolved up into His; when we rest in His will as our end, as being itself most just, and right, and good. And where is the impossibility of such an affection to what is just and right and good, such a loyalty of heart to the Governor of the universe, as shall prevail over all sinister indirect desires of our own?

JOSEPH BUTLER.

There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God.

F. W. FABER.

Lord, Thy will be done in father, mother, child, in everything and everywhere; without a reserve, without a BUT, an IF, or a limit.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.

May 26

_The Lord beareth your murmurings, which ye murmur against Him_.--EX. xvi. 8.

Without murmur, uncomplaining
In His hand,
Leave whatever things thou canst not
Understand.

K. R. HAGENBACH.

One great characteristic of holiness is never to be exacting--never to complain. Each complaint drags us down a degree, in our upward course. If you would discern in whom God's spirit dwells, watch that person, and notice whether you ever hear him murmur.

GOLD DUST.

When we wish things to be otherwise than they are, we lose sight of the great practical parts of the life of godliness. We wish, and wish--when, if we have done all that lies on us, we should fall quietly into the hands of God. Such wishing cuts the very sinews of our privileges and consolations. You are leaving me for a time; and you say that you wish you could leave me better, or leave me with some assistance: but, if it is right for you to go, it is right for me to meet what lies on me, without a wish that I had less to meet, or were better able to meet it.

R. CECIL.

May 27

_He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much_.--LUKE xvi, 10.

_The Lord preserveth the faithful_.--PS. xxxi. 23

The trivial round, the common task,
Would furnish all we ought to ask;
Room to deny ourselves; a road
To bring us, daily, nearer God.

J. KEBLE.

Exactness in little duties is a wonderful source of cheerfulness.

F. W. FABER.

The unremitting retention of simple and high sentiments in obscure duties is hardening the character to that temper which will work with honor, if need be, in the tumult or on the scaffold.

R. W. EMERSON.

We are too fond of our own will. We want to be doing what we fancy mighty things; but the great point is, to do small things, when called to them, in a right spirit.

R. CECIL.

It is not on great occasions only that we are required to be faithful to the will of God; occasions constantly occur, and we should be surprised to perceive how much our spiritual advancement depends on small obediences.

MADAME SWETCHINE.

May 28

_Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness_.--COL. I. 11.

God doth not need
Either man's works or His own gifts; who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state
Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.

J. MILTON.

We cannot always be doing a great work, but we can always be doing something that belongs to our condition. To be silent, to suffer, to pray when we cannot act, is acceptable to God. A disappointment, a contradiction, a harsh word, an annoyance, a wrong received and endured as in His presence, is worth more than a long prayer; and we do not lose time if we bear its loss with gentleness and patience, provided the loss was inevitable, and was not caused by our own fault.

FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.

May 29

_Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises_.--HEB. vi. 12.

Where now with pain thou treadest, trod
The whitest of the saints of God!
To show thee where their feet were set,
The light which led them shineth yet.

J. G. WHITTIER.

LET us learn from this communion of saints to live in hope. Those who are now at rest were once like ourselves. They were once weak, faulty, sinful; they had their burdens and hindrances, their slumbering and weariness, their failures and their falls. But now they have overcome. Their life was once homely and common-place. Their day ran out as ours. Morning and noon and night came and went to them as to us. Their life, too, was as lonely and sad as yours. Little fretful circumstances and frequent disturbing changes wasted away their hours as yours. There is nothing in your life that was not in theirs; there was nothing in theirs but may be also in your own. They have overcome, each one, and one by one; each in his turn, when the day came, and God called him to the trial. And so shall you likewise.

H. E. MANNING.

May 30

_And thus this man died, leaving his death for an example of a noble courage, and a memorial of virtue, not only unto young men, but unto all his nation_.--2 MAC. vi. 31.

_Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field_.--JUDGES v. 18.

Though Love repine, and Reason chafe,
There came a voice without reply,--
'Tis man's perdition to be safe,
When for the truth he ought to die.

R. W. EMERSON.

Some say that the age of chivalry is past. The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth, or a man or woman left to say, "I will redress that wrong, or spend my life in the attempt." The age of chivalry is never past, so long as we have faith enough to say, "God will help me to redress that wrong; or, if not me, He will help those that come after me, for His eternal Will is to overcome evil with good."