A self-controlled mind is a free mind, and freedom is power. I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers. I call that mind free which resists the bondage of habit, which does not live on its old virtues, but forgets what is behind, and rejoices to pour itself forth in fresh and higher exertions.
—William Ellery Channing.
That ye be renewed in the
spirit of your mind, and put on the new
man, that after God hath been
created in righteousness and holiness
of truth.
—Ephesians 4. 23, 24.
Lord God, give me the power to control my mind and heart, that I may not be a slave to habits that may keep me from eternal love and blessedness. May I have sympathy and compassion for others, and cherish thy tenderness and mercy as I hold it in my daily life. Amen.
APRIL EIGHTH
Petrarch crowned 1341.
William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, born 1580.
David Rittenhouse born 1732.
If I can stop one heart from
breaking,
I shall not live
in vain;
If I can ease one life from
aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest
again,
I shall not live in vain.
—Emily Dickinson.
The most solid comfort one can fall back upon is the thought that the business of one’s life is to help in some small way to reduce the sum of ignorance, degradation, and misery on the face of this beautiful earth.
—George Eliot.
Make full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself.
—Philippians 2. 2, 3.
My Father, take away the spirit, if I may be inclined to keep the best, and to be always seeking my portion. May I have the desire to share with those who have less, and to give to those who may have more, whether it be of bread or love. Amen.
APRIL NINTH
Fisher Ames born 1758.
John Opie died 1807.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti died 1882.
Gather a shell from the strown
beach
And listen at
its lips; they sigh
The same desire
and mystery,
The echo of the whole sea’s
speech.
And all mankind
is this at heart—
Not anything but
what thou art:
And Earth, Sea, Man are all
in each.
—Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
And as, in sparkling majesty,
a star
Gilds the bright
summit of some glory cloud;
Brightening the half-veil’d
face of heaven afar;
So when dark thoughts
my boding spirit shroud,
Sweet Hope! celestial influence
round me shed,
Waving the silver pinions
o’er my head.