I have no fear! what is in store for me
Shall find me self-reliant, undismayed.
God grant my only cowardice may be:
Afraid to be afraid!

EVERARD JACK APPLETON.

Whether in politics or religion, it is none of your business whether you are in the majority or in the minority. It is none of your concern whether your idea is too old or too new; whether you are ahead or behind the times. If what you teach is true, and the world is not with you, then so much the worse for the world.

GEORGE L. PERIN.

Lord of Eternity! all our times are in Thy hand; with each rising and setting sun, we move with Thy moving world. Thou leadest forth the stars in their mighty courses, and in the divine order of nature and humanity Thou hast appointed our nobler place. We thank Thee for the laws that never change; for the love that never slumbers; for the high calling of truth and righteousness; and for the responsibilities of rational freedom. Oh if other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us if through carelessness or cowardice or love of ease and praise, we have conformed to customs and opinions that are not true and right—we humbly own our folly and fault; and would go to our rest confiding in Thy pardoning grace, and with a sincere purpose to live henceforth as Thy loving and obedient children. Amen.

CHARLES GORDON AMES.

I am quite clear that one of our worst failures is at the point where, having resolved like angels, we drop back into the old matter-of-fact life and do just what we did before, because we have always done it, and because everybody does it, and because our fathers and mothers did it; all which may be the very reason why we should not do it. There is no station of life,

and no place of one's home, where, if he want to enlarge his life by caring for people outside himself, he may not start on a career of enlargement which shall find the answer to our question to be that the man who enters upon infinite purposes lives the infinite life. He enlarges his life by every experience of life.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

Our Heavenly Father, may we so profit by the experiences of this day now closing that we shall know how to live tomorrow in a better way; when its opportunities shall open to us may we be able to avoid the things which bring regret tonight. Help us to profit by our failures and keep us from stumbling twice and thrice over the same things. We want to find our lives larger and better at the close of each new day. May it be our holy purpose that on the morrow we shall not be so small again. Help us to lead our souls more and more to those high altars of thought and service which lead to Thee. Amen.

JOHN WESLEY Carter.

A second voice was at mine ear;
A little whisper, silvery clear,
A murmur, "Be of better cheer."

As from some blissful neighborhood,
A notice faintly understood,

I see the end and know the good."

A little hint to solace woe,

A hint, a whisper breathing low,
66 I may not speak of what I know!"

Like an Eolian harp, that wakes
No certain air, but overtakes

Far thought with music that it makes,

Such seemed the whisper at my side; "What is't thou knowest, sweet voice?" I cried: "A hidden hope," the voice replied.

TENNYSON.

Eternal God, our Heavenly Father: with Thee began, with Thee shall end this day. We have lived it in Thy life and we have shared in the bounties of Thy love. For all Thy mercies, known and unknown, we render Thee our hearts' devotion and our praise. Defend us, we beseech Thee, from all perils and dangers of the approaching night. Abide with us now that the hours of light are spent and let Thy presence make melody in our souls during the eventide watches. Thou All-True and AllCompassionate God, in Thee will we put our trust, until the day again breaketh, and the shadows flee away. Amen.

S. PARKES CADMAN.

Often at night my little daughter stirs
And cries, perhaps at some rude dream of ill,
But when she feels her father's hand on hers
She sinks again to slumber sweet and still.

Often at night, I, too, from dreaming start,
Shaken by fears, alas, that are not dreams,
But when Thou layest Thy hand upon my heart,
O Christ, the Comforter, how sweet it seems!

DENIS A. MCCARTHY.

Father in Heaven, as the shadows of the night gather about me, shutting out from my vision so much that has interested and inspired me, separating me from so many fellow laborers whose companionship has strengthened my spirit and sweetened my toil, I feel the need of Thy personal presence. May I have such full consciousness of Thy being, such absolute confidence in Thy goodness, such steadfast faith in Thy protecting providence that no fear shall trouble my heart though the night be dark about me or the elements rage without. Let no morbid figment of my imagination distort, for an instant, in my deepest consciousness, the great central fact that God is Love, and "Love worketh no ill." Amen. CHARLES CONKLIN.

"Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by-and-by." Life is like one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

that

The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

Into Thy loving care, O Thou, whom we have been taught to call our Father, we would commit ourselves this night. Thou art father and mother to our souls and as the child, full of trust, falls asleep in its mother's arms so may we now rest in Thee knowing that Thou wilt protect us from evil and raise us up in the new day refreshed for the duties of life. We desire stronger faith, we crave closer fellowship with Thee, we are anxious to obey more fully Thy holy laws that we may harmonize our lives with Thy divine purpose. Bless us to these ends and bring us into Thy Kingdom. Amen.

HERBERT W. Carr.