As morning hears before it run
    The music of the mounting sun,
    And laughs to watch his trophies won
    From darkness, and her hosts undone,
    And all the night becomes a breath,
    Nor dreams that fear should hear and flee
    The summer menace of the sea,
    So hear our hope what life may be,
    And know it not for death.

    —­Algernon Charles Swinburne.

    I came from God, and I’m going back to God, and I won’t have any
    gaps of death in the middle of my life.

    —­George MacDonald.

    The hope of the righteous shall be gladness;
    But the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

    —­Proverbs 10. 28.

Lord God, teach me the way and show me the light of the eternal day; and may the vision fill my soul as I take courage and follow it.  May I not be fearful of what may be provided, but remember that before the creation of life thou didst have a purpose in death.  May I be trustful.  Amen.

APRIL SIXTH

Albert Duerer died 1528.

James Mill born 1773.

Jean Baptiste Rousseau born 1669.

    Even if the sacrifices which are made to duty and virtue are painful
    to make, they are well repaid by the sweet recollections which they
    leave at the bottom of the heart.

    —­Jean B. Rousseau.

    I am the man of a thousand loves,
      A thousand loves have I;
    And all my loves are white-winged doves,
      That into my soul would fly.

    I am the man of a thousand friends
      Of tuneful memory;
    And each of them spends the delicate ends
      Of a brilliant day with me.

    And all my gifts are magical words
      That sing sweet songs to me;
    And the sensitive words are caroling birds
      In the garden of imagery.

    —­Edwin Leibfreed.

    Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.

    —­Revelation 2. 10.

Loving Father, I bless thee for thy love and ministry.  May I enter into a broader conception of sharing thy gifts.  May I not seek thy blessings to keep, but to use for renewed inspiration.  Amen.

APRIL SEVENTH

Saint Francis Xavier born 1506.

William Wordsworth born 1770.

William Ellery Channing born 1780.

    My heart leaps up when I behold
      A rainbow in the sky: 
    So was it when my life began;
    So is it now I am a man;
    So be it when I shall grow old,
      Or let me die! 
    The child is Father of the Man;
    And I could wish my days to be
    Bound each to each by natural piety.

    —­William Wordsworth.