—­Ephesians 4. 14.

Eternal God, I thank thee for all the sterling elements that greaten the individual life.  I pray that I may not desire to be kept a small creature, but seek to grow in wisdom and love, and qualify for mighty purposes and achievements.  Amen.

NOVEMBER TWENTIETH

Paul Potter born 1625.

Thomas Chatterton born 1752.

William Ellery Channing born 1818.

Sir Wilfred Laurier born 1841.

    Then why, my soul, dost thou complain? 
       Why drooping seek the dark recess? 
    Shake off the melancholy chain,
       For God created all to bless.

    The gloomy mantle of the night,
       Which on my sinking spirits steals,
    Will vanish at the morning light,
       Which God, my East, my Sun, reveals.

    —­Thomas Chatterton.

    Lady, there is a hope that all men have—­
    Some mercy for their faults, a grassy place
    To rest in, and a flower-strewn, gentle grave: 
    Another hope which purifies our race,
    That when that fearful bourne forever past,
    They may find rest—­and rest so long to last.

    I seek it not, I ask no rest forever,
    My path is onward to the farthest shores.

    —­William Ellery Channing.

    He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay;
    And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 
    And he put a new song in my mouth.

    —­Psalm 40. 2, 3.

My Father, I pray that I may have patience to live through the difficulties of life.  May I correct my faults, that they may not destroy my peace and take from me my strength; help me to center my life in brightness and hope.  Amen.

NOVEMBER TWENTY-FIRST

Claude Lorraine died 1682.

Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) born 1787.

Mary Johnston born 1870.

    There is not a creature from England’s king
      To the peasant that delves the soil,
    Who knows half the pleasures the seasons bring
      If he had not his share of toil.

    —­Barry Cornwall.

It may be proved, with much certainty, that God intends no man to live in this world without working; but it seems to me no less evident that he intends every man to be happy in his work.  Now, in order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed:  they must be fit for it; and they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it.

    —­John Ruskin.

    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, if my work seems hard to-day, may I not cease working if I grow weary, but may my strength be renewed to continue my work.  May the aim of my work be to please thee, and to help in the progress of humanity.  Amen.