Qia Twenty-first Thousand 4 35e tht fofPowctg Que cgaff not m^ in ^avRneee. :?»-7». /»»■*- ^^__Ji^ ^^e Cfoub of TJ7i^ne&0 ^ DAILY SEQUENCE (Brcat ^gouggte from (JUan^ Qtlin^e FOLLOWING THE CHRISTIAN SEASONS HON. MRS. LVTTELTON CELL "Certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring." "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and Cometh down from the Father of lights." Bonbon HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE AMEN CORNER, E.G. «.^. |. ^«w4W.W«w.w.w«^.t. X >,.wtt..w..?,w«w.s,»..x.«s>«w«x w.w.x .s..^ -^^-^ HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY •i*" PREFATORY NOTE BY HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. l^HESE Sequences of Thoughis, resiiyig each on sonie otie clear ' idea ' presented to us in our Sundays, seem io me full of interest and help. Brief words chosen for a day often help ^he day through more strongly and brightly. That is our experience of the greatest Lections of all. The ' ideas ^ noted in the folloiving pages are full of suggestion, and I know no like book with so wide a range of illustrations. It is good to hear in pithy phrases what the observ- ing, musing poet-people, thai is the ' maker-peopW as the Greeks have it, are saying at this moment: — None the less good, because some of them are yet unable to ' beat their music out ' — the music of a full faith. In such voices is heard what St. Paid calls ' the yearning of the Creation^ ' and that yearning is Creation s witness to the Son of God. EDW. CANTUAR. Addington, Nov. 29, 1891. 1 G7fi9ft2 'HTEAR ye not the voices rtngmg doivn the ages — •^ Echoing still the message, though their task be done — Voices, born of heroes, tnonarchs, poets, sages, Yearning still to share the ivisdont they had icon ? Listen! — Thronging round you, deafening with their clamour. Fashion-tyrants mock at your vaunt of self control. Wake! — Delusive visions fraught ivith poison- glamour Daze your eyes to blindness, while they paralyse your soul. Yet the Cloud of Witness solemnly advances, Widening as each clarion-voice is hushed in Death below ; Yet the Heavenly Vision gleams on raptured glances, Prompt through changing vesture their changeless Lord to know! E. M. L. G. ^ (preface THE Epistles and Gospels for each Sunday in the j'ear represent a sequence of thought which has been pursued in the worship of the Christian Communit}'' from almost its earliest da3'S. The stream of teaching embodied in them is part of that fundamental inheritance of Christians which is common to all the Churches, and which writers of every Communion, even outside the Christian pale, have developed and illustrated. It is the object of this little book to detach and em.phasize some cardinal point of Christian teaching (not always the thought most plainly obvious) thus associated with each Sunday and Holy-day ; and to present it in its different aspects for daily meditation throughout the w^eek, illuminated and enforced by cognate testimony drawn from the minds of those who, from age to age, have seemed to catch most truly the Heavenly Vision, — to hear most clearly the Divine Voices, — to apprehend i"n fullest measure the realities of God's Purpose amongst men. In the things of the Soul, there is ever the danger of losing in breadth of sympathy and perception, while gaining in intensity of feeling and devotion. The deepest religious feeling too often foregoes its birthright and strips itself of support, by failing to realize that ^^ Every good gift and cve)y perfect gift is from above," and is destined for its nutrition and instruction. By ignoring the sidelights through which God shines upon the groping world, we im- poverish and weaken the Revelation which He qffers ^ ^ preface us. We stunt our apprehension of His habitual and universal Presence among men. We contract our perception of the volume of Divine Influence to the limits of the single stream upon v^^hich circumstance has launched our individual lives. " The life of man is the knowledge of God. But this knowledge lives and moves. It is not a dead thing embalmed once for all in phrases ^" A selection from general literature undertaken with the objects embodied in this little book, brings us to realize that the sum of Christian thought is far wider than any sect or creed ; and if any should be disposed to cavil at finding the sayings of heathen philosophers and secular poets side by side with those of Christian Saints, let them remember that St. Paul did not disown the Altar raised to the Unknown God, and that a Greater than St Paul commanded His followers to gather up the fragments that nothing be lost. The Great Minds of each Age in succession, doubt- less,, are the channels of the Special Message which the needs of their Age require ; though portions of their message often prove to be of such final and perfect insight that they have only to be re-uttered in order to secure the acknowledgment of each succeed- ing generation. The heathen Emperor, Marcus Aure- lius, and the unknown Saint, St. Thomas a Kempis, stand out in this respect as World Teachers. Each spoke to the soul on certain points more convincingly than any that has followed them, and each has been widely quoted in the following pages. To the com- piler, nevertheless, it appears as if there were no epoch since the days of the Apostles and the Fathers when the Divine Message of literature was so wide > Weslcolt. ►i#- (J)treface in its range, so intense in its effort, so deep in its insight, as in the present century— at least amongst English and American writers. If the proportion of modern — even of living Authors — quoted in this little book seems large, it is because the work of compilation itself disclosed that the treasures of human thought— for our age at least — lay most richly scattered amongst modern writers. I trust sincerely the living will approve this ne- cessarily imperfect attempt to gather here some of the treasures of their spiritual teaching — a teaching the more valuable, from being so often obviously spontaneous, and, if I may say so, accidental. My obligations to Lord Tennyson, Lord Lytton^, Mr. Myers, Mr. George Mac Donald, Miss Ingelow, Mrs. Hamilton King, and to all the other living writers whose names are given in the fallowing list of Au- thors, cannot be too amply acknowledged. Alas! that there are so many of their brother Poets whom no formal acknowledgments can reach,. Robert Brown- ing and Elizabeth Barrett Browning ha^'^e passed from us into that Greater Life of w)iich their lofty and prophetic souls seemed to attain; so near a vision while on earth. Lowell — one ofthq misst suggestive teachers for the nineteenth century — t^^ joined them while these sheets were in the press. Matthew Arnold, Cardinal Newman, Lord Houghton, Father Faber, Emerson, Carlyle, Mazzini, Miss F. R. Haver- gal, Miss Adelaide Procter, had gone before. Yet still We feel the orient of their spirit glow — Part of our life's unalterable s<^od. Of all our saintlier aspiration. This little book has owed some of the noblest testimonies to Christian thought to writers of other 1 Lord Lytton died November 24, 1891. preface Communions than my own. I should be glad if it could repay the debt by being found useful in its turn beyond the limits of the Church of England. Even to such as do not share our own lifelong as- sociations with the progress of the Church's year, a Golden Treasury of great thoughts and aspirations culled from ancient and modern, from religious and secular writers, may be helpful. For, when we penetrate through the vesture of doctrine and dogma to the Living Spirit within, have not "all spiritual influences, however antagonistic they may appear, more in common with each other than tlfey have with the temper of the world "? ' Christ's faith makes but one Body of all souls, And Love 's that Body's soul : What Soul soe'er in any language can Speak Heaven like her's is my Soul's countryman 2. EDITH LYTTELTON CELL. Latighy Lodge, Oxford, All Saints Day, mdcccxcl *^* To increase the utility of thta collection for general reference, a very careful though necessarily unexhaustive Index of Subjects has been added. 1 Jowett. 2 Crashaw. ►i«- ^ -^ tonttnte PAGE Preface \ai List of Authors Quoted .... xvii PART I. 5oot|>nnf0 of t^t QUaefer THE SEASON OF ADVENT " ^^g Ktn^Sdm come " ist Week in Advent : ^' God with us'' . . 3 2nd Week ,, '' In Change Unchanged" 11 3rd Week „ '' Right Judgment" . 19 4th Week ,, "■ The Way of Joy"" . 27 Saints Commemorated in Advent : St. Andrew (Nov. 30th) * : ^^The Discipline of Duty ' ' 36 St. Thomas (Dec. 21st) ^^ Loyalty in Weakness " . 37 CHRISTMAS AND THE DYING YEAR " (Bob f men {0 brawing near " Christmas-tide : '^Perfect God and Perfect Man " 41 * St. Andrew's Day occasionally falls in the week preceding Advent. ConUntQ Saints Commemorated in Christmas-tide : St. Stephen (Dec. 26th^ : pack " FaUhfiil unto Death " . 44 St. John the Evangehst i^Dec. 27th) : *' The Sanctuary of Home " . 45 The Holy Innocents (Dec. 28th) : " The Ministry of Children " . 46 The Dying Year (Dec. 29th-3ist) : "Retrospect"' . . .47 THE NEW YEAR AND SEASON OF EPIPHANY "^^g £t5^t t0 come" The Circumcision : " 7^hc Divine Brother hooiV 54 The New Year (Jan. ist-5th^ : " Omvard and Upivard^'' . 55 The Epiphany (Jan. 6th^ : " The Universal Felloivshif^ 61 Week of the — 1st Sunday after Epiphany : '' The Consecrated Life"" . . 63 2nd ,, ^^ Obedience'' . . . -71 3rd „ " The Triumph of Rightconsncss'" 79 4th ,, ^^ Fearfulness" .... 87 5th „ ''Patience'' 95 6th „ ''The Supreme Fatherhood" . 103 Festivals of the Season : Conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25th)*: " The Snare of Intolerance" 112 Feast of the Presentation (Feb. 2nd)*: " The Force of Gentleness " 113 * When there are less than four Sunday.s after tlie Epiphany, one or both of these Festivals will fall in the following Season. Conttnte THE SEASON OF LENT " Bci U0 afeo go t^at vft mag 5te wtt^ gtm " The Preparation : Week of — page Septuagesima : '' The Cail/o Ejidurance" . 117 Sexagesima : '' T/ie Voice 0/ God" . . 125 Quinquagesima : " The Greai Essential" . . 133 The Forty Days : Ash Wednesday : '■'■ The Cry of Penitence'''' . 138 Week of the — ist Sunday in Lent : " The Orde The Debt of the Forgiven " . 445 231-d '' To all their due'' 453 24th „ " The Ministry of Intercession'" 461 25th " The Revelation of Ideals" . 469 Saints Commemorated in the Season* St. Barnabas (^June nth' : * The Mission of Comfort'" 478 St. John the Baptist vjune 24th) : ' The Secret of Infiicnce'" 479 St. Peter ^June 29th^ : ' Impulsiveness "... 480 St. James (J uly 25th) : '^ The Snare of Ambit io>r 481 St. Bartholomew ^Aug. 24th : ' The Revelation of Miracle'" . 482 * The Feast of St. Andrew occasionally falls in this Season, and the Feast of St Barnabas in the preceding Season. ■ . Conttnta St. Matthew (Sept. 21st) : page ''Integrity'' . . . .483 St. Michael and All Angels (Sept. 29th) : " The Presence of the Unseen " . 484 St. Luke (Oct. i8th) : " Ministry to the Sick " , . 486 St. Simon and St. Jude (Oct. 28th^ : " 77?^ Perversion of Criticism " . 487 All Saints (Nov. ist) : " The Communioti of Saints" , 488 PART III. tU ^of^ Communion The Eve . . 490 I The Evening . 493 The Morning . 492 j The Remembrance 494 PART IV. €poc^0 in tU t^ti^ian Bift Holy Baptism : " The Consecration of Childhood " . 497 Confirmation : " The Consecration of Youth " . 501 The Birthday : '' Reconsecration of Life""' . . 505 Betrothal : ** The Consecration of Love" . . 507 Holy Matrimony : *' The Consecratioji of Wedded Life'' 511 Sickness and Convalescence : " The Consecration of Suffering" . 517 The Hour of Death : ''Entry into Rest" . . 523 Index of Subjects 535 Record of Anniversaries .... 553 BM of Mt^ote Ouofei Adams, Sarah. Addison, Joseph. AlDAN, St. Alderson, E. Alexander, Cecil Allingham, Wil- liam. Amiel. Amos, Book of. Angelo, Michael. Arnold, Edwin. Arnold, Matthew., Augustine, St. Bacon, F., Viscount St. Albans. Baker, Sir H. Baring Gould, S. Baxter, Richard. Bernard, St. Bickersteth, E. H. Blake, W. BONAR, H. Bond, A. Borthwick, J. Bourne, G. H. Bridges, R. Bright, Dr. Browning, Eliza- beth Barrett. Browning, Robert., Buchanan, R. Burbidge, T. BuRGON, Dean. Bykon, Lord. Caird. Calderon. Campion, T. Canticles, Book of. Carlyle, Thomas. Chiabrera. Chronicles, Books of. Clark. Claudius, M. Clough, a. H. Coleridge, Hart- ley. Coleridge, _S. T. Collins, H. Coolidge, S. Cowper, William. Cox, Frances. Cranch, C. p. Crashaw, R. Crewdon, Jane. Daniel, Book of. Dante. Dkuteronomy, Book of. Dix, W. C. Downton, H. Drake, Maria. Drummond. W. Dryden, John. Ecclesiastes, Book of. Ecclesiasticus, Book of. .Edmeston, J. Eliot, George. Ellerton, J. Elliot, Char- lotte. Emerson, R. W. Esdras, Books of. Exodus, Book of. Ezekiel. Faber, F. W. Fletcher, L. Froude, R. H. Gannett, W. C. I Genesis, Book of. Gerhardt, p. Grant, Sir W. Grant-Duff, Sir M. E. Gray, David. Greene, Clara. Greenwell, Dora. Grinfield, T. GuiON, Mdme. Havergal, F. R. Haweis, Rev. J. Heber, R. (Bishop of Calcutta) Hebrews, Epistle to. Hemans, Felicia. Herbert, George. Hesiod. Hinds, S. (Bishop of Norwich). Hose a, Book of. Houghton, Lord. How, Walsham (Bishop of Wake- field.) Hugo. Hunt, Leigh. Ingelow, Jean. Irons, W. F. Isaiah, Book of. James, St. Job, Book of. Joel, Book of. John, St. Joshua, Book of. JowETT, B., Master of Balliol. JUDE, St. Judges, Book of. Julian, J. Keble, John. Kemble, Frances. Ken (Bishop of Bath and Wells). King, H.Hamilton. Kings, Books of. Kingslky, Charles. Koran. Biet of cEutgove Ouofe^ Lamentations, Book of. Lamrnnais. LoGAU, Von. Longfellow, H.W. Lowell, J. R. Luke, St. Luther, Martin. Lynch, T. T, Lyte, H. F. Lytton, Lord (Owen Mere- dith.) Maccabees, Book of. Mac Donald, Geo. Mai.achi, Book of. Mansfield. Mant,R. (Bishop of Down). Marcus Aurelius, Emperor. Mark, St. Mason, J. Massinger. Matthew, St, Mazzini, G. Mc Cheyne, R. M. Meredith, Owen. Michael Angelo. Milman, H. H. (Dean of St. Paul'si. Milton, John. Montgomery, J. Morgan. Morris, Lewis. Myers, F. W. H. Nhale, J. M. Newman, J. H. (Cardinal). Newton, J. Newton. Sir Isaac. Noel, C. M. Novalis. Paul, St. Peter, St. Plato. Pliny. Plumptre, E. H. (Dean of Wells). Pollock, T. B. POLLOK. Pope, Alexander. Procter, Adelaide. Proverbs, Book of. Psalms, Books of. QUARLES, F. RiNCKART, M. ROSCOE, CAI.nWELL. RossEiTi, Chris- tina. ROSSETTI, D. G. RiCKERT. RusKiN, John. Ruth, Book of. Samuel, Books of. Scott, IJell. Seneca. Shairp, J. Camp- bell. Shakespeare. Sharp, J. Shelley, P. B. Sidney, Sir Philip. Smith, Walter. Socrates. Solomon, Song of, Southwell, R. Spenser, Edmund. Siani.ey, a. P, (Dean of West, minster). Stennett, J. Stone, J. Sutton, Septimus. Taylor, Jeremy. Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. Teresa, St. Terstegen, G. Thomas a Kempis. Thomson, J. Thompson, J. Thring, (i. ToBiT, Book of. toplady, a. m, Trench, R. C. (Archbishop of Dublin). Turner, C. Tenny- son. TuTTIETT, L. TWELLS, H. Tytler, C. Fraser. Vaughan, Henry. Vere, Aubrey ue. Waring, A. L. Wesley, Charles. Wesley, John. Westcott, B. F. (Bp. of Durham). White, H. Kirke. Whitmore, Lady Lucy. Whititer, J. G. Williams, I. Williams, Sarah. Winkworth, Cath. Wisdom, Book of. WoRDSVv'ORTH, Christopher (Bp. of Lincoln). Wordsworth, W. Young, E. ! Zechariah, Book of. Zinzendorf. Count. ^ ■*t* PART 1. FOOTPRINTS OF THE MASTER ADVENT TO TRINITY ''ARE YE ABLE TO DRINK OF THE CUP THAT I SHALL DRINK OF?" ^4 ► THE SEASON OF ADVENT " T/IY KINGDOM COME" Nov. 30th Dec. 2ist ^ ; ^ n 7//£ FIRST WEEK IN ADVENT " Be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." A Prayer for the Week Thy Kingdom come, O Lord ; Thy reign, O Christ, begin ! [Advent Eve. Watch ye ; for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: lest coming sud- denly He find you sleeping. — Mark xui. 35, 36. ^O ! as some venturer, from his stars receiving Promise and presage of sublime emprize, Wears evermore the seal of his believing Deep in the dark of solitary eyes, — So even I, and with a heart more burning, So, even I, and with a hope more sweet, Groan for the hour, O Christ, of Thy returning, Faint for the flaming of Thine Advent feet, F. Myers. ^ ■ 3T may be in the evening, When the work of the day is done, And you have time to sit in the twilight, And watch the sinking sun, While the long bright day dies slowly Over the sea, And the hour grows quiet and holy With thoughts of Me; While you hear the village children Passing along the street — Among those thronging footsteps May come the sound of My feet. Therefore I tell you, Watch ! By the light of the evening star When the moon is growing dusky As the clouds afar, Let the door be on the latch In your home, For it may be through the gloaming I will come. C. M. V-IIF. Master is come, and calleth for thee. John xi. 28. f'/rs/ Week in AdvenLl 4 Advent Sunday.] Behold, thy King cometh to thee. — Gospel for the Day. AT ARK ! what a sound, and too divine for hearing, ri) Stirs on the earth and trembles in the air ! Is it the thunder of the Lord's appearing? Is it the music of His people's prayer ? Surely He cometh, and a thousand voices Shout to the saints and to the deaf are dumb ! Surely He cometh, and the earth rejoices, Glad in His coming, Who hath sworn, " I. come !" F. Myers. ^HOU art coming, O m^'- Saviour! Thou art coming, O my King ! In Thy beauty all resplendent, In Thy glory all transcendent; Well may we rejoice and sing ! Coming ! in the opening east Herald brightness slowly swells, Coming! O my glorious Priest. Hear we not Thy golden bells ? F. R. Havekgal. A^H, quickly come, great King of all, ^^ Reign all around us and within ! Let sin no more our hearts enthral. Let pain and sorrow die with sin ! Oh, quickly come, for Thou alone Can'st make Thy scatter'd people one! TUTTIETT. #' jURELY the time is short, Endless the task and art. To brighten for the ethereal court A soil'd earth-drudging heart; But He, the dread Proclaimer of that hour. Is pledged to thee in Love, as to thy foes in Power. Keble. *!^- [INlONDAY. (Bob wit^ U0. Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him. — Matt. xxv. 6. ^HY care is fixed, and zealousl}'' attends To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light, And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore, be sure Thou, when the Bridegroom with His feastful friends Passes to bliss at the mid hour of night, Hast gained thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure. Milton. JFkE lifts me to the golden doors, ^ The flashes come and go ; All Heaven bursts her starry floors, And straws her light below, And deepens on and up ! The gates Roll back, and far within For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits, To make me pure of sin. The Sabbaths of Eternity ! One Sabbath deep and wide — A light upon the shining sea — The Bridegroom and His bride ! Tennyson. fAITHFUL soul, prepare thy heart for this Bride- groom, that He may vouchsafe to come unto thee, and to dwell within thee. .^, ^^^_^^ . ^^^^^^^^^^^ A^H ! that Thy steps among the stars would quicken ! ^"^ Oh ! that Thine ears would hear when we are dumb ! Many the hearts from which the hope shall sicken, Many shall faint before Thy kingdom come ! F. Myers. Firsi Week in Advent.'\ 6 •^ Tuesday.] ^ I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Hira that sent Me. — John vi. 38. For judgment I am come into this world.— John ix. 39. O' |H quickly come, dread Judge of all ; For, awful though Thine advent be, All shadows from the truth will fall, And falsehood die, in sight of Thee. Oh quickly come : for doubt and fear Like clouds dissolve when Tnou art near. ^ TUTTIETT. A1f\E believe that Tnou shalt come to be our Judge. '^HE night is well nigh spent : the world fulfils Her season— on the everlasting hills Bright burns the day-star ! Yet a little more And all that lets will be for ever o'er ! . . . Wake while ye may — or sleep for evermore ! The great Judge stands already at the door. What ? will 3'e slumber till the day of doom Dispels your darkness ? Must the dull, cold tomb, More quick to hear, more keen to feel, than you, Yield up its dead, to prove the warning true ? W BURGON. fREAT God ! what do I see and hear. The end of things created. The Judge of all men doth appear, On clouds of glory seated. The trumpet sounds, the graves restore The dead which they contained before : — Prepare, my soul, to meet Him ! Great Judge ! to Thee our prayers we pour, In deep abasement bending; O shield us through that last dread hour, Thy wondrous love extending ! May we, in this our trial day, With faithful hearts Thy word obey, And thus prepare to meet Thee ! Trans, from Luther. & [ Wednesday. (Bob wit^ U0. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. — John x. la A^HO did leave His Father's throne >- To assume thy flesh and bone ? Had He life, or had He none? If He had not lived for thee, Thou hadst died most wretchedly And two deaths had been thy fee. Herbert.- 98 ^HE life of man is the knowledge of God. But this knowledge lives and moves. , It is not a dead thing embalmed once for all in "phrases. Westcott. ^HEN haste Thee, Lord ! Come down, Take Thy great power and reign ! But frame Thee first a perfect crown Of spirits freed from stain- Souls mortal once, now match'd for evermore With the immortal gems that form'd Thy wreath before. .. ^ Keble. ^VtOT heralded by fire and storm, vi In shadowy outline diml}'^ seen. Comes through the gloom a glorious form, The once-despised Nazarene. " f^ar not, Beloved, thou art Mine, For I have given My life for thee, By name I call thee, rise and shine, Be praise and glory unto Me ! Thy life is hid in God with Me, I stoop to dwell within th}' breast." " My joy for ever Thou shalt be. And in my love for Thee I rest ! " F. R. Havergal. ► 4- First IVeek in Advent.] Thursday. ] He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. — John i. ii. /{J^ARTH breaks up, time drops away, ^^ In flows heaven with its new day Of endless Hfe, when He who trod, Very Man and very God, This earth in weakness, shame and pain, Dying the death whose signs remain Up yonder on the accursed tree. — Shall come again, no more to be Of captivity the thrall, But the one God, All in All, King of kings and Lord of lords : As His servant John received the words, *' I died, and live for evermore." Browning. oCVDVENT through the cold dark air Blows a shrill blast of warning, and the Night Is wellnigh spent. Do thou and I beware Lest the Judge come, and we, in Love's despite, Be found with cruel hands rais'd up to smite Our fellow servant ! ^ iSLRGON. A\ GOD, O kinsman, loved, but not enough ! ^^ O Man, with ej'cs majestic after death, Whose feet have toiled along our pathway rough, Whose lips drawn human breath ; By that one likeness which is ours and Thine, By that one nature which doth hold us kin, By that high heaven where sinless, Thou dost shine To draw us sinners in ; Come! lest this heart should, cold and cast away, Die ere the guest adored she entertain— Lest eyes which never saw Thy earthly day Should miss Thy heavenly reign ! Jean Ingelow [ Friday. <5o^ wit§ U0. The kingdom of God cometh not with observa- tion : neither shall they say, Lo here ! or, lo there I for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke xvu 20, 21. «« ■■ (^VNTO you is given To watch for the coming of His feet Who is the Glory of our blessed Heaven ; The work and watching will be very sweet Even in an earthly home, And in such an hour as you think not He will come. ^ B. M. J AM come a Light into the world, j^^^^ ^,j ^g ^ HEART! weak follower of the weak, That thou should'st travel land and sea In this far place that God to seek Who long ago had come to thee ! Lord Houghton. UT wherefore bring Change To the spiril7 God meant should mate His with an infinite range, And inherit His power to put Life in the darkness and cold ? Browning. Second Week in Adv€nt.\ 12 Sunday. ] Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.- Gospel for the day. 77LL things are ever God's : the Shows of things Are of man's fantasy and warped with sin ; — God, and the things of God, immutable. Allingham ^0-DAY'S brief passion limits their range ; It seethes with the morrow for us; — and more They are perfect — how else ? They shall never change ; We are faulty — why not ? We have time in store. The Artificer's hand is not arrested With us ; we are rough-hewn, no-wise polished. They stand for our copy, and, once invested With all they can teach, we shall see them abolished. ^ Browning. ^7LL things are passing ! God never changeth. ^^ Santa Teresa. ^Y^OTHING, resting in its own completeness, v^ Can have worth or beauty ; but alone Because it leads and tends to farther sweetness Fuller, higher, deeper, than its own. Life is only bright when it proceedeth Towards a truer, deeper Life above. Human Love is sweetest when it leadeth To a more divine and perfect Love. ii Adelaide Procter. ^(fOOL ! all that is at all '^ Lasts ever, past recall ! Earth changes, but thy Soul and God stand sure ; What entered into thee, T/iat was, is, and shall be : Time's wheel runs back or stops ; Potter and clay endure. Browning. 13 [ Monday. jn c6<^nge unc^an^eb. They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture Shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.— H KB. I. II, 12. ^ORD, though we change, Thou art the same — The same sweet God of love and light. <& Herbert. &' ■^HEY drift away — Ah, God ! they drift for ever ! I watch the stream sweep onward to the sea Like some old battered buoy upon a roaring river, Round whom the tide-waifs hang — then drift to sea. I watch them drift — the old familiar faces Who fished and rode with meby stream and wold, Till ghosts, not men, fill old beloved places, And, ah! the land is rank with churchyard mould. I watch them drift — the youthful aspirations Shores, landmarks, beacons, drift alike ! . . . Yet overhead the boundless arch of heaven Still fades to night, still blazes into day . . . Ah God ! my God ! Thou wilt not drift away. ^ KiNGSLEY. 'ARTH, we Christians praise thee thus. Even for the Change that comes With a grief from thee to us. E. 13. Browning. ^IFE'S sorrows still fluctuate ; God's love does not, And His love is unchanged, when it changes °^^ ^°t. ^ LVTTON. AN'S yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow. Nought may endure but mutability. ^ SlU^LLEY. 7I7LL which is real now remaincth And faileth never ; The hand which upholds it now, sustaineth The soul for ever. Whittier. Second IVeek in Advent.'] 14 (m Tuesday. ] I am the Lord, I change not.— Mal. hi. 6. ^HE One remains, the many change and pass ; Heaven's light for ever shines, Earth's shadows fly ; Life, Hke a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity — Until Death tramples it to fragments. — Die, If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek ! Follow where all is fled ! Sheli.ev. o /Yt OT saint nor sage could fix immutably v^ The fluent image of the unstable Best, Still changing in their very hands that wrought ; To-day's eternal Truth to-morrow proved Frail as frost-landscapes on a window-pane — Meanwhile Thou smiledst, inaccessible, At Thought's own substance made a cage for Thought, And Truth locked fast with her own master-key. ^ Lowell. "^HOUGH to the vilest things beneath the moon, For poor ease sake I give away my heart, And, for the moment's S3'mpathy, let part My sight and sense of truth, Thy precious boon, — My painful earnings, lost, all lost, as soon Almost as gained ! and though aside I start, Belie Thee daily, hourly,— still Thou art. Art surely, as in heaven the sun at noon ! How much soe'er I sin, whate'er I do Of evil, still the sky above is blue. The stars look down in beauty as before. Clough, o A>H. the outward hath gone ! — but in glory and ^^ power. The Spirit surviveth the things of an hour ; Unchanged, undecaying, its Pentecost flame On the heart's secret altar is burning the same. Whittier. 15 [Wednesday. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. — Heb. xiii. 8. i ^WIXT gleams of joy and clouds of doubt Our feelings come and go ; Our best estate is toss'd about In ceaseless ebb and flow. No mood of feeling, form of thought, Is constant for a day ; But Thou, O Lord ! Thou changest not ; The same Thou art alway ! Out of that weak unquiet drift, That comes but to depart, To that pure Heaven ray spirit lift Where Thou unchanging art ! Thy purpose of eternal good Let me but surely know : On this ril lean, let changing mood And feeling come or go ! ili J. Campbell Shairp. AVING loved His own that were in the world, He loved them unto the end. t^„„ ^,„ ^ JOHN XIII* !• fiAY never, ye loved once ! ^ God is too near above, — the Grave, beneath : And all our moments breathe Too quick in mysteries of life and death. For such a word. The eternities avenge Affections light of range ; There comes no change to justify that change, Whatever comes — Loved once. iii E. B. Browning. ^T fortifies my soul to know ^ That, though I perish, Truth is so; That, howsoe'er I stray and range, Whate'er I do. Thou dost not change. I steadier step, when I recall That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall. Clough. Second Week iu Advent.'\ 16 Thursday. ] Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. — Matt, xxviu. 20. ^HE course of God is one. It likes not us To think of Him as being acquaint with Change ; It were beneath Him ! li, j_ Imgelow. ICE reigns above ! He reigns alone ! 'y Systems burn out and leave His throne ; Fair mists of seraphs melt and fall Around Him changeless amid all — Ancient of Days, Whose days go on ! ,,^ E. B. Browning. <^ NIMA Mnndi' of Thyself existing, Without diversity or change to fear, Say, has this Life to which we cling, persisting, Part or communion with Th}' stedfast sphere ? Does Thy serene Eternity sublime Embrace the slaves of Circumstance and Time ? .1. Houghton. "^HE old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. • 1- Tennyson. ,UT Thou art true, Incarnate Lord, Who didst vouchsafe for man to die ; Thy smile is sure. Thy plighted word No Change can falsify Wordsworth. '^HOU comest not, Thou goest not, Thou wert not, wilt not be ; Eternity is but a thought By which we think of Thee. Faber. ^HANGE and decay in all around I see, O Thou, Who changest not, abide with me ! Lyte. (^' ►i»- [ Friday. The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner : but My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished. — Isaiah li. 6. REAVING the final issue in His hands [is sure, Whose goodness knows no change, Whose love Who sees, foresees, Who cannot judge amiss. ^^ Wordsworth. "^HINGS learnt on earth we shall practise in heaven. .^ Browning. rV^OT clinging to some ancient saw ; vi Not mastered by some modern term ; Not swift nor slow to change, but firm : And in its season bring the law. Meet is it Changes should control Our being, lest we rust in ease : We all are changed by still degrees, All — but the basis of the soul. Tennyson. *v* iwIFE'S vapours arise And fall, pass and change, group themselves and revolve Round the great central Life, which is Love; these dissolve And resume themselves — here assume beauty, there And the phantasmagoria of infinite error [terror ; — And endless complexity, lasts but a while I Life's self, — the immortal, immutable smile Of God on tlie soul — in the deep heart of Heaven Lives changeless, unchanged : and our morning and even Are earth's alternations, not Heaven's. Lytton. *^ Q^HANGE must proceed whether for good or ill. »jvj. Browning. "Therefore, if Thou canst fan, Then can 'Tliy Truth and I ! But while rocks stand And rivers stir, Tnou canst not shrink or quail ; Yea, when both rocks and all things shall disband, Then shalt Thou be my rock and tower, And make their ruin praise Th}' power. Herbert. Seco;.'ii IVcck in Advent.] 18 THE THIRD WEEK IN AD VENT " Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come." A Prayer for the Week Grant us by Thy Holy Spirit to have a right judg- ment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort. •4^ [ Saturday. He that judgeth. me is the Lord.— i Cor. iv. 4. (g. Y things which do appear We judge amiss. The flower, which wears its way Through stony chinks, lives on from day to day Approved for living, — let the rest be gay And sweet as summer ! Heaven within the reed Lists for the flute-note ; in the folded seed It sees the bud, and in the Will the Deed. jg D- Greenwell. ^S this your Christian counsel ? Out upon ye ! ^ Heaven is above all yet. There sits a Judge That no king can corrupt. Shakespeare. "^HERE the tears of earth are dried, There its hidden things are clear: There the work of life is tried By a juster Judge than here. Father, in Thy gracious keeping Leave we now Thy servant sleeping. ^ Ellertom. |KOW shall we judge their present, we who have ^ never seen That which is past for ever, and that which might have been ? Measuring by ourselves, unwise indeed are we ! Measuring what we know by what we can hardly see. SS F. R. Havekgal. n^E not proud of well-doing ; for the judgment of ^^ God is far different from the judgment of men, and that often offcndeth Him which pleaseth them. ^ Thos. X Kemi'is. |0D judges by a light Which baflles mortal sight ; And the useless-seeming man the crown hath won. In His vast world above, — A world of broader love, — God hath some grand employment for His son. Faber. TAird Week in Advent.] 20 (S< ■f Sunday. ] With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment — Ep. for the Day. CHEY extol Things vulgar and, well weigh'd, scarce worth the praise. They praise and they admire they know not what, And know not whom, but as one leads the other. And what delight to be by such extoll'd, To live upon their tongues, and be their talk. Of whom to be disprais'd were no small praise? — His lot who dares be singularly good ! Milton. ■^AKE each man's censure, but reserve thy judg- ment. ^ Shakespeare. Ai^HERE men of judgment creep, and feel theirway, ^Cr^ The positive pronounce without dismay : Their want of light and intellect supplied By sparks Absurdity strikes out of Pride : Without the means of knowing right from wrong. They always are decisive, clear and strong. gJI COWI'ER. UT thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? . . . for we must all stand before the judgmentseat of God. >fi Rom. XIV. lo (R.V.). 3 KNOW my own appointed patch in the world. -^ Browning. f ^OR whom the heart of man shuts out, Sometimes the heart of God takes in, And fences them all round about With silence 'mid the world's loud din. „ Lowell. ■^HOU art not the more holy for being praised, nor the more worthless for being dispraised. What thou art, that thou art ; neither by words canst thou be made greater than what thou art in the sight of God. Thos. a Kempis. r [ Monday. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. —John vu. 24. ^' Che night Wanes into morning, and the dawning light Broadens, and all the shadows fade and shift ! I follow, follow, — sure to meet the sun, And confident that what the future yields Will be the Right, — unless myself be wrong. t Longfellow. ,HADOWS there are who dwell Among us, yet apart, Deaf to the claim of God Or kindly human heart ; Voices of earth and heaven Call, but the}'^ turn awa}'', And Love, through such black night Can see no hope of day. And yet — our eyes are dim And thine are keener far ; Then gaze till thou can'st see The glimmer of some star ! The black stream flows along, Whose waters we despise, — Show us reflected there Some fragment of the skies ! 'Neath tangled thorns and briers (The task is fit for thee) Seek for the hidden flowers We are too blind to see ! Then will I thy great gift A crown and blessing call ; Angels look thus on men, And God sees. good in all. ^ p^^^^^^ AUCH as everyone is inwardly, so he judgcth ^ outwardly. Taos. X Kemhs. TAird Week in Advent .^ 22 Tuesday. ] Neither cast ye your pearls before swine.— Matt. vii. 6. (TNELIVER not the tasks of might ^^ To weakness, neither hide the ray From those, not blind, who wait for day, Tho' sitting girt with doubtful light. Make Knowledge circle with the winds ; But let her herald. Reverence, fly Before her to whatever sky Bear seed of men and growth of minds ! Watch what main-currents draw the j^ears ; Cut Prejudice against the grain ; But (gentle words are alwa3-s gain) Regard the weakness of thy peers ! Tennyson. •^ O GOOD and Great, In Whom, in this bedarkened state, I fain am struggling to believe, Let me not ever cease to grieve, Nor lose the consciousness of ill Within me ; — and refusing still To recognise in things around What cannot truly there be found, Let nie not feel, nor be it true That, while each daily task I do, I still am giving day by day My precious things within away (Those Thou didst give to keep as Thine) And casting, — do whate'er I may, — My heavenly pearls to earthly swine ! C LOUGH. ^EEING ye thrust the word of God from ^-ou, and ^ judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. acts xm. 46 (R V.) [ Wednesday. Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? — James ii. 4. ■^HOU hast done well, perhaps, To lift the bright disguise And lay the bitter truth Before our shrinking eyes. When evil crawls below What seems so bright and fair, Thine e3'es are keen and true To find the serpent there : And yet— I turn away — Thy task is not divine, — The evil angels look On earth with eyes like thine. Thou hast done well, perhaps, To show how closely wound Dark threads of Sin and Self With our best deeds are found ; — How great and noble hearts Striving for lofty aims Have still some earthly chord A meaner spirit claims ; — And yet— although thy task Is well and fairly done, — ■ Methinks for such as thou There is a holier one. a. Procter. ^= >HALL one like me Judge hearts like yours l Browning. IZTE that well and rightly considcrcth his own ^ works will find little cause to judge hardly of another. ^ Tl-„os ^ Kemi-is. -^HERE is no place where earth's sorrows Are more felt than up in heaven ; There is no place where earth's failings Have such kindly judgments given. irACEK. 'J'/iir(i IVeek in AJveni.'] 24 Thursday. ] Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man ; for the judgment is God's.— Deut. i. 17. ^IME was when I believed that wrong In others to detect, Was part of genius, and a gift To cherish, not reject. Now better taught by Thee, O Lord ! This truth dawns on my mind — The best eflfect of heavenly light Is earth's false e3'-es to blind. Faber. -^HE world is full of Judgment-Da3';s, and into every assembly that a man enters, in every action he attempts, he is gauged and stamped. Emerson. A^HAT from this barren being do we reap ? w^ Our senses narrow, and our reason frail, Life short, and truth a gem which loves the deep, And all things weigh'd in custom's falsest scale ; — Opinion an omnipotence whose veil Mantles the earth with darkness, until right And wrong are accidents, and men grow pale, Lest their own judgments should become too bright, And their free thoughts be crimes, and earth have too much light ! ^ Byron. IpTE 'S loved of the distracted multitude, ry Who like not in their judgment, but their e3'cs. ^ Shakespeare. ^HE best men, doing their best, Know peradventure least of what the}' do : Men usefuUest in the world are simply used : The nail that holds the wood must pierce it first, And he alone who wields the hammer sees The work advanced by the earliest blow. ^ E. B. Browning. ^UDGE not ; that ye be not judged. [ Friday. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart that I may discern between good and bad.— i Kings "^HEY do but grope in learning's pedant round, Who on the fantasies of sense bestow An idol substance, bidding us bow low Before those shades of being which are found Stirring or still, on man's brief trial-ground ; — As if such shapes and moods, which come and go, Had aught of Truth or Life in their poor show, To sway or judge, and skill to sane or wound! Son of immortal seed! high-destined Man ! Know thy dread gift— a creature, yet a cause : Each mind is its own centre, and it draws Home to itself, and moulds in its thought's span All outward things, the vassals of its will, Aided by Heaven, by earth unthwarted still. (otA Newman. i-ET such men rest Content with what they judged the best ; Let the unjust usurp at will ; The filthy shall be filthy still : Miser, there waits the gold for thee ! Hater, indulge thine enmity ! brown.ng. P JAIR Judgment, Without the which we are pictures or mere beasts. ^ Shakespeare. 77ND shall we then be restless in the search For other proofs and witnesses of God, Before our hearts have rested on the One He gave us in our very ficsh to know ? Impatient for the noon-day, shall we miss The sunrise we shall never see again ? ®^ H. Hamilton King, ^F we would judge ourselves we should not be J judged. I Cor. xi. 31. TAird IVeek in Advent.'] 26 '^4 THE FOURTH WEEK IN ADVENT. "Z%t ^?« If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. — John xvi. 17. /ly^Y Master, they have wronged Thee and Thy love ! ^ They only told me I should find the path A Vt'a Dolorosa all the way ! . . . Narrow indeed it is ! . . . Oh, why Should they misrepresent Thy words, and make ' Narrow ' synonymous with * very hard ' ? For Thou, divinest Wisdom, Thou hast said Thy ways are ways of pleasantness, and all Thy paths are peace ; and that the path of him Who wears Thy perfect robe of righteousness Is as the light that shineth more and more Unto the perfect day. And Thou hast given An olden promise, rarely quoted now, Because it is too bright for our weak faith : ' If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend Days in prosperity, and they shall spend Their years in pleasure.' r- « u -^ ^ ^ F. R. Havergau ■{*f'OR he, and he only, with wisdom is blest ■^ Who, gathering true pleasures wherever they grow, Looks up in all places, for joy or for rest. To the Fountain whence Time and Eternity flow. ^ Wordsworth. ^IS mine — to boast no joy Unsobered by such sorrows of my kind As sully with their shade my life that shines. -W-, Browning. WHOU hast proved that purest Joy is Duty. H. CoLi';