FRANK D. SARGENT.

December 11

_Love the spot where you are, and the friends G.o.d has given you and be sure to expect everything good of them._

JOHN ALBEE.

_When do we lift each other up? Must we gain a height first or can we reach up our feebleness together to the Hands that do offer us a mighty help from on high? Near doing, and near living, and near loving; these life-particles make the great heaven, as the little polarized atoms of light, all magnetized one way, make the great blue in which the stars burn forever._

MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.

No discontent could hara.s.s us if we had a deeper faith in Thee and a broader love for those about us. We praise Thee, therefore, that we may be rooted and grounded in Christ. And that our little lives may glorify Him by bringing forth abundant fruit. Thou dost give us the holy privilege of being co-laborers with Thee in the salvation of needy humanity. Around us are the countless opportunities for enn.o.bling and gladdening the lives of those whose courage burns low, or who have never known the transforming companionship of Christ. We would not forget that we are debtors to Thee and to that great Host whose love and service has inspired us. May we be not selfish takers only, but generous givers. May there be less gloom, fewer shackles, less guilt in the world because we are mastered by the spirit of Christ. Amen.

PHILIP L. FRICK.

December 12

_Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you?_

_Have you not learned great lessons from those who reject you, and brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt, or dispute the pa.s.sage with you?_

WALT WHITMAN.

Help us, O G.o.d, always to be hopeful; teach us what it means to hope in Thee, and may we experience the truth of the promise which says: "He will strengthen your heart that hopes in Him;" but help us not to indulge in too fond hopes nor to be too easily elated by future dreams.

May we see life clearly as it is and be ready to accept courageously whatsoever Thou sendest us. Help us to accept all our joys as Thy blessings; all our duties as Thy commands, and our sorrows as of Thine appointment, and help us to believe that Thou wilt turn even that which seems to harm us, into everlasting good and everlasting joy. Amen.

JOHN F. MEYER.

December 13

_Life should be a giving birth to the soul, the development of a higher mode of reality. The animal must be humanized: flesh must be made spirit; physiological activity must be trans.m.u.ted into intellect and conscience, into reason, justice, and generosity, as the torch is trans.m.u.ted into light and warmth. The blind, greedy, selfish nature of man must put on beauty and n.o.bleness. This heavenly alchemy is what justifies our presence on the earth; it is our mission and our glory._

HENRI-FReDeRIC AMIEL.

Our Father, this world is Thy world, and this day is Thy renewed gift of opportunity to learn life's lesson more perfectly. We need clearer insight into Thy designs, that we may loathe every form of selfishness, and love devotion. Give us to know the Christ more intimately, and in the strength of His apprehended presence help us to employ this day in practising the holy principles He taught. a.s.sist us this morning to have, and throughout this day to keep, such an att.i.tude of glad co-operation with Him, that work shall be shot through and through with joy in antic.i.p.ation of its glorious result. So may this day be to us a time of real soul expansion; a wooing and a winning of that which is highest, even a purer, n.o.ble character. Amen.

J. EDWIN LACOUNT.

December 14

_'Tis the mind that makes the body rich, And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, So honor peereth in the meanest habit.

What, is the jay more precious than the lark, Because his feathers are more beautiful?

Or is the adder better than the eel, Because his painted skin contents the eye?_

SHAKESPEARE.

In this world of mingled good and evil, amid the ceaseless struggle of the better with the worse, grant unto us our Father, the cheerful a.s.surance that we are enlisted in the service of the good, bound for the better, and destined for the best. Reveal to us each day some task that we can do for Thee, some chance to bear with Christ the burden of another, some call to take the side of the right against the wrong. Help us to conquer hardship by patience, despair by hope, fear by courage, and hate by love; and may we find the peace, the power, the glory of Thy perfect will and Thy great kingdom reflected and reproduced in our hearts and lives. Amen.

WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE.

December 15

_Call him not old, whose visionary brain Holds o'er the past its undivided reign, For him in vain the envious seasons roll Who bears eternal summer in his soul.

If yet the minstrel's song, the poet's lay, Spring with her birds, or children at their play, Or maiden's smile, or heavenly dream of art, Stir the few life-drops creeping round his heart, Turn to the record where his years are told,-- Count his gray hairs,--they cannot make him old!_

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

Thou infinite Spirit of Life, in Thy sight, there is no old age. The step may grow feeble, the hair may whiten, the eye may grow dim, but each human soul is still Thy child. We gather about the tables of earth, families of children, some older, some younger, but all young in Thy sight. We pause for a moment this morning to pray for the spirit of youth. Let us cherish the power of hoping and of believing. Let us have that fine quality of the child life which keeps it facing the future with glad expectancy. Let us not give over our toils till we must. Let us not relinquish our interest in life till the evening shadows fall, and even at the last, let us lie down like the child who sleeps with his hand in the hand of his mother. Amen.

GEORGE L. PERIN.

December 16

_O toiling bands of mortals! O unwearied feet, travelling we know not whither! Soon, soon, it seems to you, you must come forth on some conspicuous hilltop, and but a little way further, against the setting sun, descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labor._

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

Our Father, we thank Thee for the work that Thou givest us to do; for its joy, for its zest, even for its very task and weariness. We would interpret our labor by the highest good it brings us; through our brave and cheerful doing Thy heaven of peace is found. We thank Thee for our diviner hopes, and for the Spirit that would complete them. They light our days with gladness, and set our feet in large places, and though the higher hill-tops seem far away, yet meeting our duties faithfully, we do see them, and looking back we find the places of our departure lying far below. O blessed tasks! O blessed hopes! That lead us ever to our Father's love. Amen.

ALBERT J. COLEMAN.

December 17

_G.o.d speaks to hearts of men in many ways: Some the red banner of the rising sun, Spread o'er the snow-clad hills, has taught his praise.

Some the sweet silence when the day is done; Some, after loveless lives, at length have won His word in children's hearts and children's gaze; And some have found him where low rafters ring To greet the hand that helps, the heart that cheers; And some in prayer, and some in perfecting Of watchful toil through unrewarding years; And some not less are his, who vainly sought His voice, and with his silence have been taught,-- Who bore his chains who bade them to be bound, And at the end in finding not have found._

ANONYMOUS.

O G.o.d, all voices of the earth are Thine, even when there is no speech or language, Thy messages have many ways to reach the listening heart.

Give us this day to hear at least some whisper of Thy grace. If it may be, open our minds and attune our spirits to receive more than we could hitherto interpret of the a.s.surances sent to us by elevated goodness and love. So let us be defended this day against wrong, and do our work in joy and peace through the knowledge that Thou art with us, our friend and helper even unto the end. Amen.

HOWARD N. BROWN.

December 18

_Did you ever see a schoolboy tumble on the ice without stooping immediately to re-buckle the strap of his skates? And would not Ignotus have painted a masterpiece if he could have found good brushes and a proper canvas? Life's shortcomings would be bitter indeed if we could not find excuses for them outside of ourselves.

And as for life's successes--well, it is certainly wholesome to remember how many of them are due to a fortunate position and the proper tools._

HENRY VAN d.y.k.e.