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?