O woman, great is thy faith:  be it done unto thee even as thou wilt.

    —­Matthew 15. 28.

Lord and Master of all, I pray that thou wilt make me see through my prejudices and beyond my desires to the very “top of my condition.”  May I not wait for places or circumstances that are dimly in the distance or that are near at hand, but accomplish the work I should do to-day.  Amen.

OCTOBER TWENTY-SEVENTH

James Cook born 1728.

Nicolo Paganini born 1782.

Theodore Roosevelt, New York, twenty-fifth President
United States, born 1858.

The vice of envy is not only a dangerous, but a mean vice; for it is always a confession of inferiority.  It may promote conduct which will be fruitful of wrong to others, and it must cause misery to the man who feels it.

    —­Theodore Roosevelt.

    Of all the passions, jealousy is that which exacts the hardest
    service, and pays the bitterest wages.  Its service is to watch the
    success of one’s enemy; its wages to be sure of it.

    —­C.C.  Colton.

    Dear to me is the friend, yet I can also make use of an enemy.  The
    friend shows me what I can do, the foe teaches me what I should.

    —­Schiller.

    Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another.

    —­Galatians 5. 26.

Almighty God, I would ask thee that my days be filled with aspiration, and that my heart may know no envy.  Help me to love humanity.  May I be so glad of the success of others that I may never know what it is to be envious.  Amen.

OCTOBER TWENTY-EIGHTH

Desiderius Erasmus born 1465.

John Locke died 1704.

Georges Jacques Danton born 1759.

    Not so in haste, my heart! 
      Have faith in God and wait;
    Although he linger long,
      He never comes too late.

    Until he cometh, rest,
      Nor grudge the hours that roll;
    The feet that wait for God
      Are soonest at the goal;

    Are soonest at the goal
      That is not gained by speed;
    Then hold thee still, my heart,
      For I shall wait his lead.

    —­Bayard Taylor.

    It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation
    of Jehovah.

    —­Lamentations 3. 26.

Lord of life, may I pause to remember that rest may not be obtained with wretched thoughts, nor can it be enjoyed in discontent.  In my moments of rest wilt thou show me how to relax, and with tranquillity may I gather hope for renewed ambition.  Amen.

OCTOBER TWENTY-NINTH

Sir Walter Raleigh beheaded 1618.

James Boswell born 1740.