JULY 9. Look through the whole of life. The strongest moral obligations were never the result of our option. The Author of our being is the Author of our place in the order of existence; and having disposed and marshalled us by a divine tactic, not according to our will, but according to his, He has, in and by that disposition, subjected us to act the part which belongs to the place assigned us. The place of every man determins his duty. It is not right to turn duties into doubts. They are to govern our conduct, not exercise our ingenuity. Our opinion about them ought not to be in a state of fluctuation, but steady, sure, and resolved. Edmund Burke, died July 9, 1797, aged 67. JULY 10. The longer on the earth we live, The more we feel the high stern-featured beauty J. R. Lowell. JULY II. It has been the custom in Europe among the champions of monarchy, to foretell the downfall of our political institutions, the end of our national existence. We have outlived these predictions. The extent of our territory, the increase of population, the multiplication of our States, have added to our political stability. We have solved the problem whether a people are capable of self-government, and have proved that a government resting upon the assent, co-operation, and responsibility of an intelligent people, is the most stable and beneficent yet devised by Nathaniel Hawthorne. man. JULY 12. In the books of the Bible are some disagreements in chronology and confusion of numbers. To waste time on these questions is more suited to an idle than to a studious man. Paul's speaking against genealogies and Jewish. fables seems to forbid questions of this kind. Jerome, 342-420. JULY 13. The opening up of the New World has been called the greatest event in history. So perhaps it was; but to Spain it was the greatest curse. Before that time her people were tilling the soil, building up manufactures, spreading their commerce, laying foundations of substantial and enduring prosperity. The wealth of Mexico and Peru changed them into a race of adventurers and robbers. Douglas Campbell, born July 13, 1840. JULY 14. The gods are just, Shakespeare. And of our pleasant vices make instruments To scourge us. JULY 15. Repentance is heart sorrow, and a clean life; The preaching of the Apostles was the voice of their Divine Master prolonged in its majestic simplicity. For beauty, plainness, the words of Jesus are a model to preachers, as his life is their example. Henry E. Manning, born July 15, 1808. JULY 16. To place the spirit above the letter, the principle above the rule, was the aim of Christ, and the cause of the dislike he met with. This affords an answer to the question whether it be not dangerous to draw a parallel between his office and ours. I reply that except in fellowship and oneness with that life, and parallel feelings and struggles, I do not see how life would be tolerable. He was Humanity, and in him alone my humanity becomes intelligible. F. W. Robertson. JULY 17. The world is full of books, but multitudes are so ill written, they were never worth reading; and thousands more are worth nothing when the occasion is past for which they were written. Your business in reading is to improve your knowledge. Deal freely with every author you read, and yield your assent only to evidence and just reasoning. Seize upon truth where'er 'tis found, Among your friends, among your foes, JULY 18. The Christian church has not yet presented its perfect aspect to the world; the belief of each successive age of Christendom has varied from the belief of its predecessor; each successive form of theology is but approximation to truth, not the whole truth; it is the glory of the church to be always advancing; there still remains a higher Christianity. Arthur P. Stanley, died July 18, 1881, aged 66. |