Yes, as my swift days near their goal,
      ’Tis all that I implore;
    In life and death, a chainless soul
      With courage to endure.

    —­Emily Bronte.

    Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense
    of reward.

    —­Hebrews 10. 35.

Tender Father, may I pause this morning to look at that which I keep uppermost in my life; and if it may not be worthy of thy esteem, may I be bold enough to revise my ideals.  With thy compassion may I free my heart and mind of all unworthiness, and be given endurance to restore the empty places.  Amen.

SEPTEMBER TWELFTH

Jean-Philippe Rameau born 1693.

Griffith Jones died 1786.

Charles Dudley Warner born 1829.

    Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires, but
    according to our powers.

    —­Amiel.

    How good is man’s life, the mere living! how fit to employ
    All the heart and the soul and the senses for ever in joy!

    —­Robert Browning.

    Do something!  No man is born with a mortgage on his soul; but every
    man is born a debtor to Time.  Meet this obligation before you find
    too late that your life is impoverished and you cannot redeem it.

    —­M.B.S.

    Let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that
    he may have whereof to give to him that hath need.

    —­Ephesians 4. 28.

My Father, what I have left out of my life I know I cannot recover now.  I pray that I may give the best to what is left.  Make me deliberate, that I may prove my earnestness.  Make me industrious, that I may use my best resources to develop my life and further thy kingdom.  Amen.

SEPTEMBER THIRTEENTH

William Cecil born 1520.

Michael de Montaigne died 1592.

General Wolfe died 1759.

Charles James Fox died 1806.

    And thou, O river of to-morrow, flowing
      Between thy narrow adamantine walls,
      But beautiful, and white with waterfalls
    And wreaths of mist, like hands the pathway showing;
    I hear the trumpets of the morning blowing.

    It is the mystery of the unknown
      That fascinates us; we are children still,
    Wayward and wistful; with one hand we cling
    To the familiar things we call our own,
      And with the other, resolute of will,
    Grope in the dark for what the day will bring.

    —­Henry W. Longfellow.

    Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth.

    —­Job 5. 17.

Almighty God, I pray that thou wilt help me to correct my life to-day that I may know a better way to-morrow; and may I be mindful and try to do right.  Grant that I may be patient and kind if I may be sick or in need, and always keep uppermost the faith of deliverance and eternal care.  Amen.