December 25

_That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which pa.s.seth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of G.o.d_.--EPH. iii. 17-19.

O love that pa.s.seth knowledge, thee I need; Pour in the heavenly sunshine; fill my heart; Scatter the cloud, the doubting, and the dread,-- The joy unspeakable to me impart.

H. BONAR.

To examine its evidence is not to try Christianity; to admire its martyrs is not to try Christianity; to compare and estimate its teachers is not to try Christianity; to attend its rites and services with more than Mahometan punctuality is not to try or know Christianity. But for one week, for one day, to have lived in the pure atmosphere of faith and love to G.o.d, of tenderness to man; to have beheld earth annihilated, and heaven opened to the prophetic gaze of hope; to have seen evermore revealed behind the complicated troubles of this strange, mysterious life, the unchanged smile of an eternal Friend, and everything that is difficult to reason solved by that reposing trust which is higher and better than reason,--to have known and felt this, I will not say for a _life_, but for a single blessed hour, _that_, indeed, is to have made experiment of Christianity.

WM. ARCHER BUTLER.

December 26

_The peace of G.o.d, which pa.s.seth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus_.--PHIL. iv. 7.

_Let the peace of G.o.d rule in your hearts_.--COL. iii. 15.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace.

J. G. WHITTIER.

"These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." What is fulness of joy but _peace_? Joy is tumultuous only when it is not full; but peace is the privilege of those who are "filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."

It is peace, springing from trust and innocence, and then overflowing in love towards all around him.

J. H. NEWMAN.

THROUGH the spirit of Divine Love let the violent, obstinate powers of thy nature be quieted, the hardness of thy affections softened, and thine intractable self-will subdued; and as often as anything contrary stirs within thee, immediately sink into the blessed Ocean of meekness and love.

G. TERSTEEGEN.

December 27

_Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of G.o.d through Christ_.--GAL. iv. 7.

Not by the terrors of a slave G.o.d's sons perform His will, But with the n.o.blest powers they have His sweet commands fulfil.

ISAAC WATTS.

Our thoughts, good or bad, are not in our command, but every one of us has at all hours duties to _do_, and these he can do negligently, like a slave, or faithfully, like a true servant. "_Do_ the duty that is nearest thee"--that first, and that well; all the rest will disclose themselves with increasing clearness, and make their successive demand. Were your duties never so small, I advise you, set yourself with double and treble energy and punctuality, to do them, hour after hour, day after day.

T. CARLYLE.

Whatever we are, high or lowly, learned or unlearned, married or single, in a full house or alone, charged with many affairs or dwelling in quietness, we have our daily round of work, our duties of affection, obedience, love, mercy, industry, and the like; and that which makes one man to differ from another is not so much what things he does, as his manner of doing them.

H. E. MANNING.

December 28

_Now the G.o.d of peace make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ_.--HEB. xiii. 20, 21.

_Be ready to every good work_.--t.i.tUS iii. I.

So, firm in steadfast hope, in thought secure, In full accord to all Thy world of joy, May I be nerved to labors high and pure, And Thou Thy child to do Thy work employ.

J. STERLING.

Be with G.o.d in thy outward works, refer them to Him, offer them to Him, seek to do them in Him and for Him, and He will be with thee in them, and they shall not hinder, but rather invite His presence in thy soul. Seek to see Him in all things, and in all things He will come nigh to thee.

E. B. PUSEY.

Nothing less than the majesty of G.o.d, and the powers of the world to come, can maintain the peace and sanct.i.ty of our homes, the order and serenity of our minds, the spirit of patience and tender mercy in our hearts. Then will even the merest drudgery of duty cease to humble us, when we transfigure it by the glory of our own spirit.

J. MARTINEAU.

December 29

_Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report,--think on these things_.--PHIL. iv. 8.

_As he thinketh in his heart, so is he_.--PROV. xxiii. 7.

Still may Thy sweet mercy spread A shady arm above my head, About my paths; so shall I find The fair centre of my mind Thy temple, and those lovely walls Bright ever with a beam that falls Fresh from the pure glance of Thine eye, Lighting to eternity.

R. CRASHAW.

Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts. None of us yet know, for none of us have been taught in early youth, what fairy palaces we may build of beautiful thought--proof against all adversity. Bright fancies, satisfied memories, n.o.ble histories, faithful sayings, treasure--houses of precious and restful thoughts, which care cannot disturb, nor pain make gloomy, nor poverty take away from us,--houses built without hands, for our souls to live in.

J. RUSKIN.

December 30

_O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps_.--JER. x. 23.