Leaves of Life Part 23

MARCH TWENTIETH

Publius Ovidius (Ovid) born B.C. 43.

Sir Isaac Newton died 1727.

Karl August Nicander born 1799.

Henrik Ibsen born 1828.

Whoever is not with me in the essential things of life, him I no longer know--I owe him no consideration.

--Henrik Ibsen.

Only he who lives in truth finds it. The deepest truth is not born of conscious striving, but comes in the quiet hour when a n.o.ble nature gives itself into the keeping of life, to suffer, to feel, to think, and to act as it is moved by a wisdom not its own.

--Hamilton Mabie.

Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of G.o.d.

--Philippians 3. 13, 14.

Lord G.o.d, I thank thee for the silent ways of revelation which bring hopeful communion with thee. Help me to be composed, that my life may not create a noise and my soul miss the messages that come from the depths of truth and love. Amen.

MARCH TWENTY-FIRST

Johann Sebastian Bach born 1685.

Archbishop Cranmer burnt at Oxford 1556.

Jean Paul Richter born 1763.

Henry Kirke White born 1785.

Go through life with soft influences breathing around thee. Keep thy heart high above the many-colored mist of earth and above its storm clouds.

--Jean Paul Richter.

Recollection is the only paradise from which we cannot be turned out.

--Jean Paul Richter.

Come, Disappointment, come!

Thou art not stern to me; Sad monitress! I own thy sway, A votary sad in every day, I bend my knee to thee, From sun to sun My race will run; I only bow, and say, My G.o.d, thy will be done!

--Henry Kirke White.

If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer.

--Job 9. 27.

Gracious Father, help me to respond cheerfully when called upon to give. May I never repent of tenderness which others fail to appreciate, but may I be glad of all that I give and for all I receive. Amen.

MARCH TWENTY-SECOND

Sir Anthony Vand.y.k.e born 1599.

Caroline Sheridan Norton born 1808.

Johann Goethe died 1832.

Dr. Farrar, Dean of Canterbury, died 1903.

Rosa Bonheur born 1822.

Red Love still rules the day, white Faith enfolds the night, And hope, green-mantled, leads the way by the walls of the City of Light.

Therefore I walk as one who sees the joy s.h.i.+ne through Of the other Life behind our life, like the stars behind the blue.

--Dean Farrar.

There can be no greater delight than is experienced by a man who, by his own unaided resources, frees himself from the consequences of error: Heaven looks down with satisfaction upon such a spectacle.

--Goethe.

Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold a land that reacheth afar.

--Isaiah 33. 17.

Lord G.o.d, help me to remember that I may not only be forgiven for my transgression, but with thy help I may be led away from the wrong. May I be content to follow where thou dost lead. Amen.

MARCH TWENTY-THIRD

Pierre Savant La Place born 1749.

Schuyler Colfax born 1823.

Richard A. Proctor born 1837.

Silence is the element in which great things fas.h.i.+on themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of life.... Nay, in thy own mean perplexities, do thou thyself but hold thy tongue for one day; on the morrow how much clearer are thy purposes and duties!