Mourn no longer for your losses
Loss may mean some better gain;
Out of sorrow and of sadness

Find the peace that follows pain.
Rise above your dark forebodings,
Take the promise God has given,
Think no more of all your troubles,
Think of home, and hope, and heaven.
V. M. SIMONS.

Gentle Shepherd, give to us the faith to see Thee in the half-darkness of the valley; the trust to follow Thee along the stony path. Help us to know, though we cannot see, that Thou art leading through darkness to light. Fill the faint heart with the hope of that which is to be, give power to the feeble will and strength to the faltering steps. Soon may we see the tableland where the sun is shining and feel the touch which shall heal the bruise and satisfy the famished lips. One of Thy wearied sheep humbly seeks a whispered word; laboring and heavy laden comes to Thee for rest. Amen.

JOHN M. RICHARDSON.

Now summer's gifts are gone, the dainty rose
No longer pours her perfume to her June;
But still the leafless thornbush scarlet glows
And sunshine floods the calm November noon.

How great and good this world with all its chill
And change! Its storms of woe, its human ill
Cast only passing shadows from their sky;
And what dear sweetness even in the sigh
That guides our memories to a vanished day
All wonderful, from youth's flight into high,
Far heavens of hope on fancy's scornful wing,
Down to the dusty sod where blithely comes
The sparrow eager for his daily crumbs.
Ah! God's best star is this: a crumb to pay
The toil of life — free from this day to take

Its sunshine's gift — soul free, free from heart's ache!

ARTHUR RICHMOND.

Heavenly Father, we praise Thee for this new day. Bestow upon us Thy grace that we may spend it wholly in Thy service and to Thy glory. Help us to feel the embrace of Thine everlasting arms that amid all change we may rest in quietness and confidence. May we so abide in the sunshine of Thy love that this day and all days may be bright and beautiful. Fill us with joy and peace through believing; and cause us to abound in hope through Jesus Christ. Amen.

JAMES J. DUNLOP.

We thank Thee, heavenly Father, that we may join the one of old in the joyful exclamation, “All things are mine." Whether life or death, whether sea or land, whether past or present, whether night or day, all things are mine. O make us worthy our rich possessions. Amen.

L. W. HOBART.

To live, to live, is life's great joy, to feel
The living God within, to look abroad,
And, in the beauty that all things reveal,
Still meet the living God.

ROBERT LEIGHTON.

All about us, in earth and air, wherever eye or ear can reach, there is a power ever breathing itself forth in signs, now in a daisy, now in a wind-waft, a cloud, a sunset, a power that holds constant and sweetest relation with the dark and silent world within us. The same God who is in us, and upon whose tree we are the buds, if not yet the flowers, also is all about us: inside, the Spirit; outside, the World.

GEORGE MacDonald.

Our Father in heaven, God of infinite grace and loveliness, Thy beauty shines in cloud and flower, in Thy angels and saints, and in the face of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Let it shine in our lives that beauty of Thine which is only beautiful. May we grow more lovely in Thy sight every day, until we become children with whom Thou art ever well pleased. Amen.

JOHN HUNTER.

Is there trouble with that which lies deeper? Are my health and strength in peril? Well, I think there can be little doubt of this: that those who are forever looking on the dark side of their illnesses and ailments, peering in toward the shadows when they should face the light, toss away the finest chances left them to get well again; while those who strive for a cheerful background of faith and hope either win health, or if this is not to be, win some high blessing which may come by sickness.

ROBERT COLLYER.

O God, Light of the hearts that seek Thee, and Life of the souls that love Thee, and Strength of the minds that know Thee, grant us now Thy grace and blessing, as we turn to Thee at the beginning of this new day in our lives. The sun may shine brightly upon us, or the sky may be overcast with clouds, it matters not, we will face the light, we will strive for cheer, confident that, whate'er our lot, we may this day win some blessing. Even if we are weak and faint we may render some service in Thy name to others, and if abounding health and strength are ours, so much the more may we do to make this earth radiant with joy. Amen.

FRANK LINCOLN MASSECK.