I know the morning—I am acquainted with it, and I love it. I love it fresh and sweet as it is—a daily new creation, breaking forth and calling all that have life, and breath, and being to new adoration, new enjoyments, and new gratitude. Webster.

         On a summer evening, the setting sun is grand to look at. In his morning beams, the birds awoke and sang, men rose for their work, and the world grew light. In his midday heat, wheat fields grew yellower, and fruits ripened, and a thousand natural purposes were answered, which we mortals do not know of. And at his setting, all things seem to grow harmonious and solemn in his light.

        If the sun has gone down, look up at the stars. If the earth is dark, keep your eyes on heaven. With God's presence and God's promises, you may be always cheerful.

         Faith is the key that unlocks the treasure house of the universe. Floyd B. Wilson.

        Cheeriness is a thing to be more profoundly grateful for than all that genius ever inspired or talent ever accomplished. Next best to natural, spontaneous cheeriness is deliberate, intended and persistent cheeriness, which we can create, can cultivate, and can so foster and cherish that after a few years the world will never suspect that it was not a hereditary gift. Helen Hunt Jackson.
        The best way to secure a happy home is to be happy yourself. One really happy person is enough to create a delightful, pervasive atmosphere of happiness. To have a happy home, set the example of self-sacrifice, love, service, of ministering rather than expecting to be ministered unto—and see what comes of it! The Congregationalist.
        There are persons so radiant, so genial, so kind, so pleasure-bearing, that you instinctively feel in their presence that they do you good, whose coming into a room is like bringing a lamp there. Henry Ward Beecher.
        Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. ... Blessed is he who has a sense of the humorous. He has that which is worth more than money. Henry Ward Beecher.
        The best fence against care is a ha! ha! Wherefore take care to have one all round you wherever you can. Tom Hood.
        Pleasure comes of its own accord in the right way of life, and the simplest, the cheapest, and the most inevitable pleasures are the best. Carl Hilty.
        If we look out for our duties, pleasures like flowers will grow up around our feet. Thomas K. Beecher.
        Have you ever had your day suddenly turn sunshiny because of a cheerful word? Have you ever wondered if this could be the same world, because someone had been unexpectedly kind to you? You can make to-day the same for somebody. It is only a question of a little imagination, a little time and trouble. Think now, "What can I do to-day to make someone happy?" Maltbie D. Babcock.
        There is only one way to be happy and that is to make somebody else so. ... When you rise in the morning form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow-creature. Sidney Smith.
        If each one of us can say: "I am going to make at least part of my purpose in living to make this world a little better and happier place for others, to bring all the joy I can into others' lives who need it much, to sympathize with some one outside my own social circle, and try and enter into his life a little, and try to see if I cannot, by friendly interest, help this man I have shunned"; if each one of us can say that, he has got the exact point of this beautiful story [of Jesus and Zaccheus]. Frederick Lynch.
        A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles. Irving.
        Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm; it is the real allegory of the tale of Orpheus; it moves stones, it charms brutes. Enthusiasm is the genius of sincerity, and truth accomplishes no victories without it. Bulwer.
        We ought daily or weekly to dedicate a little time to the reckoning up of the virtues of our belongings —wife, children, friends—and contemplating them there in a beautiful collection. Jean Paul Richter.
        As jewels are treasured in the casket, to be brought forth on great occasions, so should we preserve the remembrance of our joys, and keep them for seasons when special consolations are wanted to cheer the soul. James Kirkpatrick.
        There can be no real and abiding happiness without sacrifice. Our greatest joys do not result from our efforts toward self-gratification, but from a loving and spontaneous service to other lives. Joy comes not to him who seeks it for himself, but to him who seeks it for other people. J. W. Sylvester.

        Every good thought, word, or deed is a movement heavenward....

        Flowers are the alphabet of angels, whereby they write on the hills and fields mysterious truths. Benjamin Franklin.

        There is in man a higher than love of happiness; he can do without happiness, and instead thereof find blessedness! Thomas Carlyle.

        We know not verily that which is laid up for us. There are such beautiful things put by! In God's house, and in God's time there are such treasures! A. D. T. Whitney.

        If we love God, the reward promised us is nothing less than the sight of God Himself, face to face; not transiently, not as a glorious flash of light, but an abiding vision, a glory and a gladness, a marvelous rapture of the will, forevermore. Think how such a reward transcends all the expectations, all the possibilities even, of our nature! How God must love us, and how, too, He must love our love, to have prepared for us such joys as these, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor man's heart conceived! F. W. Fuller.

        Loving God is but letting God love us,—giving welcome, that is, to God's love, knowing and believing the love God hath for us.... Horace Bushnell.

        Of all mortal joys, the joy of action is the most intense; indeed, there is no other joy. And the higher the action, the intenser the joy. Life is blessedness. The life of the lower nature we call pleasure,—the blessedness of the bird and the butterfly. The life of the social nature we call happiness,—the blessedness of the fortunate and the successful. The life of the spiritual nature,—activity in usefulness, care, duty,—we call joy. O. B. Frothingham.

        If you trust in God and yourself, you can surmount every obstacle. Prince Bismarck.

        Love, faith, and obedience are sides of the same prism. George MacDonald.

        Do not gaze backward, nor pause to contemplate anxious what is in front, but move. If you are faithful God will carry you through. Work, and you shall believe. Do, and you shall know. You will be guided to the best convictions of being heartily engaged in an obedient service. O. B. Frothingham.

        All that is good, all that is true, all that is beautiful, all that is beneficent, be it great or small, be it perfect or fragmentary, natural as well as supernatural, moral as well as material, comes from God. John Henry Newman.

        Every rose is an autograph from the hand of the Almighty God. On this world about us He has inscribed His thought, in those marvelous hieroglyphs which sense and science have been these many thousand years seeking to understand. The universe itself is a great Autograph of the Almighty. Theodore Parker.

        Think what it is to be full of love for every creature; to be frightened at nothing; to be sure that all things will turn to good, not to mind pain, because it is our Father's will; to know that nothing could part us from God who loves us, and who wills our souls with peace and joy, because we are sure that whatever He wills is holy, just and good. George Eliot.

        Let a man try faithfully, manfully to be right; he will grow daily more and more right. Thomas Carlyle.

        Throughout the entire word of God, we are taught the sacred duty of being happy. Be happy, cheerful, rejoiceful as we can, we cannot go beyond the spirit of the Gospel. Dean Stanley.

        Heaven is, in fact and in essence, a state of man's own mind, a state of love and goodness. Thus heaven is not so much a gift and reward after death, for good actions done in this life, as the necessary result of ceasing from evil, and cherishing good affections. Emanuel Swedenborg.

        Happiness is reflective like the light of Heaven: and every countenance bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and ever shining benevolence. Irving.

        True glory consists in so living as to make the world happier and better for our living. Pliny.

        "If you desire to be great and good and efficient in God's cause, or in any good work, develop and train and prune yourself. The glory of manhood is its royal kinship over the realm of self."

        "Make the best of yourself. Watch, and plant and sow. Falter not, faint not! Perhaps you cannot bear such lordly fruit, nor yet such rare, rich flowers as others; but what of that? Bear the best you can. 'Tis all God asks."

        Find your purpose and fling your life out to it; and the loftier your purpose is, the more sure you will be to make the world richer with every enrichment of yourself. Phillips Brooks.

        "There never was a day that did not bring its opportunity for doing good that never could have been done before and never can be again. It must be improved then or never."

        "No thought, no word, no act of man ever dies. They are as immortal as his own soul. Somewhere in this world he will meet their fruits in part; somewhere in the future life he will meet their gathered harvest."

        Dreams pass; work remains. They tell us that not a sound has ever ceased to vibrate through space; that not a ripple has ever been lost upon the ocean. Much more is it true that not a true thought nor a pure resolve, nor a loving act has ever gone forth in vain. F. W. Robertson.

        Each of us is bound to make the little circle in which he lives better and happier; each of us is bound to see that out of that small circle the widest good may flow; ... That out of a single household may flow influences which shall stimulate the whole commonwealth and the whole civilized world. Dean Stanley.

        How beautiful this world would be if we always saw God in it as our friend and father. If we saw immortal love in all things, how joyful would work become, how easy all our duty grow, how simplified the problems of life! That would be the coming of the kingdom of God, the reign of the Prince of Peace. J. F. Clarke.

        The good we can each of us accomplish in this world is small. The good that all men in all ages could accomplish if they would, is vast. But in order that this may be done, each working being must serve his own generation, and do his part to render the next generation more efficient. T. D. Woolsey.

        "Work on! and working right manfully, you will find that day by day, you are working out your own salvation from every morbid doubt and fear. Live on, the very best and fullest life that you can; live cheerfully if you can, but manfully always; and he that endureth to the end shall be saved."

        Begin with a generous heart. Think how you can serve others. Then shall you find resources grow. Your own portion shall not be left desolate. Strength shall be shed through you. Do the utmost with what you have, and it shall go far enough. O. B. Frothingham.

        Cultivate the thankful spirit! it will be to thee a perpetual feast. There is, or ought to be, with us no such thing as small mercies; all are great, because the least are undeserved. Indeed a really thankful heart will extract motive for gratitude from everything, making the most even of scanty blessings. J. R. MacDuff.

        There cannot be a more glorious object in creation, than a human being, replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator, by doing most good to His creatures. Fielding.

        Ask God to show you your duty, and then do that duty well, and from that point you mount to the very peak of vision. Edward Everett Hale.

        "To see the hand of God in the present, and to trust the future in the hand of God, is the secret of peace."

        You must love, in order to understand love. One act of charity will teach us more of the love of God than a thousand sermons. One act of unselfishness, of real self-denial, will tell us more of the meaning of the Epiphany than whole volumes of theology. F. W. Robertson.

        It is every man's duty to discipline and guide himself with God's help. ... Guided by the good example and good works of others, we must yet rely mainly upon our own efforts. Samuel Smiles.

        "We dream of doing great things, when we have need only to be content with doing little things close at hand."

        "For every good deed of ours, the world will be better always. And perhaps no day does a man walk down a street cheerfully, and like a child of God, without some passengers being brightened by his face, and, unknowingly to himself, catching from its look a something of religion."

        The Infinite Goodness is not far off, but near us; ...the evening shade, the guarded sleep, the morning resurrection, every bounty that falls from heaven, every bounty that spring from earth, every loving heart that blesses us, every sacred example that wins us, all these are the revelation, the manifested love of the One, all-holy, all-perfect, whom to know is life. Dr. Dewey.

        Pray on, trust on, believe on, hope on, and the still small voice [of God] will in due time come. J. R. MacDuff.

        "There is dew in one flower and not in another, because one opens its cup and takes it in, while the other closes itself and the drops run off. God rains His goodness and mercy as wide-spread as the dew, and if we lack them, it is because we will not open our hearts to receive them."

        Cast forth thy act, thy word, into the ever-living, ever-working universe; it is a seed grain that cannot die; unnoticed to-day, it will be found flourishing as a banyan grove, perhaps, alas! as a hemlock forest—after a thousand years. Thomas Carlyle.

        "The openings of the streets of heaven are on earth."

        "We miss the best chances for doing good by fixing dates. The commonest days may be made immortal to us and to others by fidelity to every passing moment."

        It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them. George Eliot.

        Beautiful is the activity which works for good, and beautiful the stillness which waits for good: blessed the self-sacrifice of the one, and blessed the self-forgetfulness of the other. Robert Collyer.

        Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one's self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing something for others. Horace Mann.

        There are glimpses of Heaven granted to us by every act, or thought, or word, which raises us above ourselves—which makes us think less of ourselves and more of others, which has taught us of something higher and truer than we have in our own hearts. Dean Stanley.

        Every nook of the mountain, every grassy knoll,—ay, too, every bleak corner of these pasture grounds—are known to Him. As an old writer quaintly says, "He leads us in, He leads us through, He leads us on, He leads us up, He leads us home!" J. R. MacDuff.

        To find the ideal life in the normal, you must do two hard things,—get rid of the world in your heart, and get rid of self—of thinking of yourself, and of feeling round yourself. One think is needful,—only one,—and that one thing is Love. Stopford Brooke.

        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 sweet things of life.

Has Christ put away your sin? If He has, be as happy as the days are long in the sweet summer time, and be as bright as a garden in the month of June, and sing like angels, for you have more to sing about than angels have. Charles H. Spurgeon.

        On no country have the charms of nature been more prodigally lavished, than upon America. Behold her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, bright with aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad, deep rivers, rolling in sullen silence to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence; and her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine! (p. 125)

        There is nothing purer than honesty; nothing sweeter than charity; nothing warmer than love; nothing richer than wisdom; nothing brighter than virtue; nothing more steadfast than faith. (p. 126)

        A good moral character, and a sound education, with habits of industry, qualify men for eminent usefulness. (p. 44)

        The splendor of the firmament, the verdure of the earth, the fragrance of the flowers, and the music of the birds, conspire to elevate the affections, and captivate the heart.(p. 59)

        Beauty is like the flower of spring; virtue is like the stars of heaven. (p. 66)

        Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace. (p. 124)

        All the oriental luster of the richest gems, all the enchanting beauties of exterior shape, the exquisite of all forms, the loveliness of color, the harmony of sounds, the heat and brightness of the enlivening sun, the heroic virtue of the bravest minds, with the purity and quickness of the highest intellect, are emanations from the Supreme Deity. (p. 98)

        A well-spent youth is the only sure foundation of a happy old age. Bigland, Advantages of a Well-Cultivated Mind. (p. 102)

        We cannot honor our country with a reverence too deep; we cannot love her with an affection too fervent; we cannot serve her with an energy of purpose too steadfast, nor a zeal too enthusiastic. (p. 127)

        Nature has laid out all her art in beautifying the face. She has touched it with vermilion; planted in it a double row of ivory; made it the seat of smiles and blushes; lighted it up, and enlivened it with the brightness of the eyes; hung it, on each side, with curious organs of sense; given it airs and graces that cannot be described; and surrounded it with such a flowing shade of hair as sets all its beauties in the most agreeable light. (p. 132)

        We should estimate a man's character more by his goodness, than by his wealth. (p. 135)

        Pleasure is a shadow; wealth is vanity; and power is a pageant: but knowledge is intrinsic enjoyment, perennial fame, unlimited space, and infinite duration. In the performance of its sacred office, it fears no danger, spares no expense, omits no exertion. It scales the mountain, looks into the volcano, dives into the ocean, perforates the earth, wings its flight into the skies, encircles the globe, explores sea and land, contemplates the distant, examines the minute, comprehends the great, and ascends the sublime. No place, too remote for its grasp, no heavens, too exalted for its touch. (p. 152)

        Creation is a display of supreme goodness, no less than of wisdom and power. How many clear marks of benevolent intention appear everywhere around us! What a profusion of beauty and ornament is poured forth on the face of nature! What a magnificent spectacle presented to the view of man! What supply contrived for his wants! What a variety of objects set before him to gratify his senses, to employ his understanding, to entertain his imagination, to cheer and gladden his heart! Indeed, the very existence of the universe is a standing memorial of the goodness of the Creator. (pp. 188-189)

        Night kissed the young rose, and it bent softly to sleep. The stars, shrined in pure dew-drops which hung upon its blushing bosom, watched its sweet slumbers. Morning came with her dancing breezes, and they whispered to the young rose, and it awoke, joyous and smiling. Lightly it danced to and fro in all the loveliness of health and youthful innocence.
        Then came the ardent sun-god sweeping from the east, and he smote the young rose with his golden shaft, and it fainted. Deserted and almost heart-broken, it dropped to the dust in its loneliness.
Now the gentle breeze, who had been gamboling over the sea, pushing on the light bark, sweeping over hill and dale, by the neat cottage and the still brook, turning the old mill, fanning the fevered brow of disease, and tossing the curl of innocent childhood, came tripping along on her errands of mercy and love; and, when she saw the young rose, she hastened to kiss it, and fondly bathed its forehead in cool, refreshing showers, and the young rose revived, looked up and smiled, and flung out its ruddy arms as if in gratitude to embrace the kind breeze; but she hurried quickly away; her generous task was performed; yet not without reward, for she soon perceived that a delicious fragrance had been poured on her wings by the grateful rose; and the kind breeze was glad in her heart, and went away singing through the trees.
        Thus, true charity, like the breeze which gathers a fragrance from the humble flower it refreshes, unconsciously reaps a reward in the performance of its offices of kindness and love, which steals through the heart like a rich perfume. (pp. 248-249)

        Happiness, my son, has not its seat in honor, pleasure, or riches. To be happy is in the power of every individual; to all, our beneficent Creator has given wisely; and those only who receive what he gives with thankful hearts, and are content, are happy. Contentment is the substance, and happiness her shadow; those who possess the one, have the other. (p. 294)

        Religion is the daughter of heaven, parent of our virtues, and source of all true felicity; she alone giveth peace and contentment, divests the heart of anxious cares, burst on the mind a flood of joy, and sheds unmingled and perpetual sunshine in the pious heart. By her the spirits of darkness are banished from the earth, and angelic ministers of grace thicken, unseen, the regions of mortality. She promotes love and good-will among men, lifts up the head that hangs down, heals the wounded spirit, dissipates the gloom of sorrow, sweetens the cup of affliction, blunts the sting of death, and wherever seen, felt, and enjoyed, breathes around her an everlasting spring, and attunes the heart and voice to mingle with the hosts of heaven, in that last and sweetest anthem that ever mortals or immortals sung. (pp. 294-295)

        Love one another; for love is of God.—1 John iv. 7.

        "The greatest thing," says some one, "a man can do for his Heavenly Father is to be kind to some of His other children." I wonder how it is we are not all kinder than we are. How much the world needs it! How easily it is done! How instantaneously it acts! How infallibly it is remembered! How superabundantly it pays itself back, for there is no debtor in the world so honorable, so superbly honorable, as Love. Henry Drummond.

        "To obtain eternal life, all I am to do is reduced to one world only, an that is ‘love." This is the first and great command, which comprehends all others. The l God is a grace rather felt than defined. It is the general tendency and inclination of the whole man, of all his heart and soul and strength, of all his powers and affections, and of the utmost strength of them all, to God as his chief and only and perfect and infinite good." Ken.

        And then you have to learn Humility—to put a seal upon your lips and forget what you have done. After you have been kind, after Love has stolen forth into the world and done its beautiful work, go back into the shade again and say nothing about it. Love hides even from itself. Love waives even self-satisfaction. "Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." Henry Drummond.

        Oh! that men would accept the testimony of Christ touching the blessedness of giving! He who sacrifices most, loves most; and he who loves most, is most blessed. Love and sacrifice are related to each other like seed and fruit; each produces the other. The seed of sacrifice brings forth the fragrant fruit of love, and love always has in its heart the seeds of new sacrifice. (No Author Given.)

        Remember, God's loving eyes are upon you, amid all little worries and vexations, watching whether you take them as He would desire. Offer up all such occasions to Him; and if sometimes you are put out, and give away to impatience, do not be discouraged, but make haste to regain your lost composure. Francis De Sales.

        Every earnest prayer that is breathed, every cross that is carried, every trial that is well endured, every good work for his fellow-man lovingly done, ever little act that is conscientiously performed for Christ's glory helps to make the Christian character beautiful, and to load its broad boughs with "apples of gold" for God's "baskets of silver." T. L. Cuyler, D.D.

        I do not know when I have had happier times in my soul, than when I have been sitting at work, with nothing before me but a candle and a white cloth, and hearing no sound but that of my own breath, with God in my soul and heaven in my eye. I rejoice in being exactly what I am,—a creature capable of loving God, and who, as long as God lives, must be happy. I get up and look out of the window and gaze at the moon and start and think myself one of the happiest beings in the universe. A Poor Methodist Woman, 18th Century.

        Cultivate a spirit of love. Love is the diamond amongst the jewels of the believer's breastplate. The other graces shine like the precious stones of nature, with their own peculiar lustre, and various hues; now in white all the colors are united, so in live is centred every other grace and virtue; love is the fulfilling of the law. (p. 76)

        Eternity will be one glorious morning, with the sun ever climbing higher and higher; one blessed spring-time, and yet richer summer—every plant in full flower, but every flower the bud of a lovelier.
(p. 460)

        What a desolate place would be this world without a flower! It would be a face without a smile,—a feast without a welcome! Are not flowers the stars of the earth? and are not our stars the flowers of heaven? (p. 139)

        The glory of the country is in its homes, which contain the true elements of national vitality, and are the embodied type of heaven. (p. 188)

        To walk with the breeze upon one's brow, to trample the level grass exuberant with freshness, to climb upon the mountain, to follow through the meadows some thread of water gliding under rushes and water-plants,—I give you my word for it, there is happiness in this. At this contact with healthy and natural things, the follies of the world drop off as drop the dead leaves when the spring spa rises and the young leaves put forth. (p. 203)

        The very soul seems to be refreshed on the bare recollection of the pleasure which the senses receive in contemplating, on a fine vernal morning, the charms of the pink, the violet, the rose, the honey-suckle, the hyacinth, the tulip, and a thousand other flowers, in every variety of figure, scent, and hue; for Nature is no less remarkable for the accuracy and beauty of her works than for variety and profusion. (p. 119)

        Nothing is better able to gratify the inherent passion of novelty than a garden; for Nature is always renewing her variegated appearance. She is infinite in her productions, and the life of man may come to its close before he has seen half the pictures which she is able to display. (p. 108)

        What shall we say of flowers—those flaming banners of the vegetable world, which march in such various and splendid triumph before the coming of its fruits? (p. 91)

        The poems which have lingered in the ear for generations have been clear-cut crystals, flashing with varied brightness—ideas set in gold of cunning workmanship. (p. 513)

        A perfect and complete marriage, where wedlock is every thing you could ask, and the ideal of marriage becomes actual, is not common, perhaps is as rare as perfect personal beauty. Men and women are married fractionally, now a small fraction, then a large fraction. Very few are married totally, they only, I think, after some forty or fifty years of gradual approach and experiment. Such a large and sweet fruit is a complete marriage, that it needs a very long summer to ripen in, and then a long winter to mellow and season it. But a real, happy marriage, of love and judgment, between a noble man and woman, is one of the things so very handsome, that if the sun were, as the Greek poets fabled, a god, he might stop the world, and hold it still now and then, in order to look all day long on some example thereof, and feast his eyes with such a spectacle. (p. 205)

        Trust in God is a well-spring of joy and peace in the heart, springing up evermore unto life eternal.

If we have a home to shelter us, and friends have gathered by our firesides, then the rough places of wayfaring will have been worn and smoothed away in the twilight of life, while the sunny spots we have passed through will grow brighter and more beautiful. Happy, indeed, are those whose intercourse with the world has not changed the tome of their holier feelings, or broken the musical chords of the heart, whose vibrations are so melodious, so touching to the evening of age.

        On a summer's evening, the setting sun is grand to look at. In his morning beams, the birds awoke and sang, men rose for their work, and the world grew light. In his midday heat, wheat fields grew yellower, and fruits ripened, and a thousand natural purposes were answered, which we mortals do not know of. And at his setting, all things seem to grow harmonious and solemn in his light.

One object in mind which we never lose sight of; an ideal steadily held before the mind, never lost sight of, never lowered, never swerved from,—this, with persistence, determines all. Nothing can resist the power of thought, when thus directed by will.

        Are you, for example, a young college man or a young woman desiring a college, a university education, or have you certain literary or artistic instincts your soul longs the more fully to realize and actualize, and seems there no way open for you to realize the fulfilment of your desires? But the power is in your hands the moment you recognize it there. Begin at once to set the right forces into operation. Put forth your ideal, which will begin to clothe itself in material form, send out your thought-forces for its realization, continually hold and add to them, always strongly but always calmly, never allow the element of fear, which will keep the realization just so much farther away, to enter in; but, on the contrary, continually water with firm expectation all the forces thus set into operation. Do not then sit and idly fold the hands, expecting to see all things drop into the lap,—God feeds the sparrow, but he does not throw the food into its nest,—but take hold of the first thing that offers itself for you to do,—work in the fields, at the desk, saw wood, wash dishes, tend behind the counter, or whatever it may be,—be faithful to the thing at hand, always expecting something better, and know that this in hand is the thing that will open to you the next higher, and this the next and the next; and so realize that each thing thus taken hold of is but the agency that takes you each time a step nearer the realization of your fondest ideals. You then hold the key; the bolts that otherwise would remain immovable, by this mighty force, will be thrown before you.

        One beautiful feature of this principle of love and service is this phase of one's personality, or nature, can be grown. I have heard it asked, If one hasn't it to any marked degree naturally, what is to be done? In reply let it be said, Forget self, get out of it for a little while, and, as it comes in your way, do something for some one, some kind service, some loving favor, it makes no difference how small it may appear. But a kind look or word to one weary with care, from whose life all worth living for seems to have gone out; a helping hand or little lift to one almost discouraged,—it may be that this is just the critical moment, a helping hand just now may change a life or a destiny. Show yourself a friend to one who thinks he or she is friendless.
        Oh, there are a thousand opportunities each day right where you are,—not the great things far away, but the little things right at hand. With a heart full of love do something: experience the rich returns that will come to you, and it will be unnecessary to urge a repetition or a continuance. The next time it will be easier and more natural, and the next. You know of that wonderful reflex-nerve system you have in your body,—that which says that whenever you do a certain thing in a certain way, it is easier to do the same thing the next time, and the next, and the next, until presently it is done with scarcely any effort on your part at all, it has become your second nature. And thus we have what? Habit. This is the way that all habit is, the way that all habit is formed. And have you ever fully realized that life is, after all, merely a series of habits, and that it lies entirely within one's own power to determine just what that series shall be?
        I have seen this great principle made the foundation principle in an institution of learning. it is made not a theory merely as I have seen it here and there, but a vital, living truth. And I wish I had time to tell of its wonderful and beautiful influences upon life and work of that institution, and upon the lives and the work of those who go out from it. A joy indeed to be there. One can't enter within its walls even for a few moments without feeling its benign influences. One can't go out without taking them with him I have seen purposes and lives almost or quite transformed; and life so rich, so beautiful, and so valuable opened up, such as the person never dreamed could be, by being but a single year under these beautiful and life-giving influences.
        I have also seen it made the foundation principle of a great summer congress, one that has already done an unprecedented work, one that has a far greater work yet before it, and chiefly by reason of this all-powerful foundation upon which it is built,—conceived and put into operation as it was by a rare and highly illumined soul, one thoroughly filled with the love of service for all the human kind. There are no thoughts of money returns, for everything it has to give is as free as the beautiful atmosphere that pervades it. The result is that there is drawn together by way of its magnificent corps of lectures as well as those in attendance, a company of people of the rarest type, so that everywhere there is a manifestation of that spirit of love, helpfulness, and kindliness, that permeates the entire atmosphere with a deep feeling of peace, that makes every moment of life a joy.
        So enchanting does this spirit make the place that very frequently the single day of some who have come for this length of time has lengthened itself into a week, and the week in turn into a month; and the single week of others has frequently lengthened into an entire summer. There is nothing at all strange in this fact, however; for wherever one finds sweet humanity, he there finds a spot where all people love to dwell.

...He who, forgetting self, make the object of his life service, helpfulness, and kindliness to others, finds his whole nature growing and expanding, himself becoming large-hearted, magnanimous, kind, loving, sympathetic, joyous, and happy, his life becoming rich and beautiful. For instead of his own little life alone he has entered into and has part in a hundred, a thousand, ay, in countless numbers of other lives; and every success, every joy, every happiness coming to each of these comes as such to him, for he has a part in each and all.
        Why, one of the very fundamental principles of life is so much love, so much love in return; so much love, so much growth; so much love, so much power; so much love, so much life,—strong, healthy, rich, exulting, and abound life. The world is beginning to realize the fact that love, instead of being a mere indefinite something, is a vital and living force, the same as electricity is a force, though perhaps of a different nature. The same great fact we are learning in regard to thought,—that thoughts are things, that thoughts are forces, the most vital and powerful in the universe, that they have form and substance and power, the quality of the power determined as it is by the quality of the life in whose organism the thoughts are engendered....

...The truth of the great law that you will find your own life only in losing it in the service of others,—that the more of your life you so give, the fuller and the richer, the greater and the grander, the more beautiful and the more happy your own life will become.

True beauty must come, must be grown, from within.

        But a small thing, apparently, is a kind look, word, or service of some kind; but, oh! who can tell where it may end? It costs the giver comparatively nothing; but who can tell the priceless value of him who receives it? The cup of loving service, be it merely a cup of cold water, may grow and swell into a boundless river, refreshing and carrying life and hope in turn to numberless others, and these to others, and so have no end. This may be just the critical moment in some life. Given now, it may save or change a life or a destiny. So don't withhold the bread that's in your keeping, but

...The more we are, the more we can do; the more we have, the more we can give.

        Let this great principle of service, helpfulness, love, and self-devotion to the interests of one's fellow-men be made the fundamental principle of all lives, and see how simplified these great and all-important questions will become. Ay, they will almost solve themselves.

"Help others to help themselves."

        With meekness, humility, and diligence, apply yourself to the duties of your condition. They are the seemingly little things which make no noise that do the business. Henry More.

        Learn to be as the angel, who could descend among the miseries of Bethesda without losing his heavenly purity or his perfect happiness. Gain healing from troubled waters. Make up your mind to the prospect of sustaining a certain measure of pain and trouble in your passage through life. By the blessing of God this will prepare you for it; it will make you thoughtful and resigned without interfering with your cheerfulness. J. H. Newman.

        Resign every forbidden joy; restrain every wish that is not referred to His will; banish all eager desires, all anxiety. Desire only the will of God; seek Him alone, and you will find peace. Fénelon.

        To know that Love alone was the beginning of nature and creature, that nothing but Love encompasses the whole universe of things, that the governing Hand that overrules all, the watchful Eye that sees through all, is nothing but omnipotent and omniscient Love, using an infinity of wisdom, to save every misguided creature from the miserable works of his own hands, and make happiness and glory the perpetual inheritance of all the creation, is a reflection that must be quite ravishing to every intelligent creature that is sensible of it. William Law.

        To love God is to love His character. For instance, God is Purity. And to be pure in thought and look, to turn away from unhallowed books and conversation, to abhor the moments in which we have not been pure, is to love God. God is Love; and to love men till private attachments have expanded into a philanthropy which embraces all,—at last even the evil and enemies with compassion,—that is to love God. God is Truth. To be true, to hate every form of falsehood, to live a brave, true, real life,—that is to love God. God is Infinite; and to love the boundless, reaching on from grace to grace, adding charity to faith, and rising upwards ever to see the Ideal still above us, and to die with it unattained, aiming insatiably to be perfect even as the Father is perfect,—that is to love God. F. W. Robertson.

        Do right, and God's recompense to you will be the power of doing more right. Give, and God's reward to you will be the spirit of giving more: a blessed spirit, for it is the Spirit of God himself, whose Life is the blessedness of giving. Love, and God will pay you with the capacity for more love; for love is Heaven—love is God within you. F. W. Robertson.

        God so loveth us that He would make all things channels to us and messengers of His love. Do for His sake deeds of love, and He will give thee His love. Still thyself, thy own cares, they own thoughts for Him, and He will speak to thy heart. Ask for Himself, and He will give thee Himself. Truly, a secret hidden thing is the love of God, known only to them who seek it, and to them also secret, for what man can have of it here is how slight a foretaste of that endless ocean of His love! E. B. Pusey.

The one who will be found in trial capable of great acts of love, is ever the one who is always doing considerate small ones. F. W. Robertson.

        We may, if we choose, make the worst of one another. Every one has his weak points; every one has his faults; we may make the worst of these; we may fix our attention constantly upon these. But we may also make the best of one another. We may forgive, even as we hope to be forgiven. We may put ourselves in the place of others, and ask what we should wish to be done to us, and thought of us, were we in their place. By loving whatever is lovable in those around us, love will flow back from them to us, and life will become a pleasure instead of a pain; and earth will become like heaven; and we shall become not unworthy followers of Him whose name is Love. A. P. Stanley.

        We should arrive at a fulness of love extending to the whole creation, a desire to impart, to pour out in full and copious streams the love and goodness we bear to all around us. J. P. Greaves.

        Goodness and love mold the form into their own image, and cause the joy and beauty of love to shine forth from every part of the face. When this form of love is seen, it appears ineffably beautiful, and affects with delight the inmost life of the soul. Emanuel Swedenborg.

        In your occupations, try to possess your soul in peace. It is not a good plan to be in haste to perform any action that it may be the sooner over. On the contrary, you should accustom yourself to do whatever you have to do with tranquility, in order that you may retain the possession of yourself and of settled peace. Madame Guyon.

        Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Ralph Waldo Emerson.

        I love best to have each thing in its season, doing without it at all other times. I have never got over my surprise that I should have been born into the most estimable place in all the world, and in the very nick of time too. Henry David Thoreau.

        To love God "with all our heart," is to know the spiritual passion of measureless gratitude for loving-kindness, and self-devotedness to goodness; to love Him "with all our mind," is to know the passion for Truth that is the enthusiasm of Science, the passion for Beauty that inspires the poet and the artist, when all truth and beauty are regarded as the self-revealings of God; to love Him "with all our soul," is to know the saint's rapture of devotion and gave of penitential awe into the face of the All-holy, the saint's abhorrence of sin, and agony of desire to save a sinner's soul; and to love Him "with all our strength," is the supreme spiritual passion that tests the rest; the passion for reality, for worship in spirit and in truth, for being what we adore, for doing what we know to be God's word; the loyalty that exacts the living sacrifice, the whole burn-offering that is our reasonable service, and in our coldest hours keeps steadfast to what seemed good when we were aglow. J. H. Thom.

        Struggle diligently against your impatience, and strive to be amiable and gentle, in season and out of season, towards every one, however much they may vex and annoy you, and be sure God will bless your efforts. Francis de Sales.

        Go on in all simplicity; do not be so anxious to win a quiet mind, and it will be all the quieter. Do not examine so closely into the progress of your soul. Do not crat your spiritual life be formed by your duties, and by the actions which are called forth by circumstances. Do not take overmuch thought for to-morrow. God, who has led you safely on so far, will lead you on to the end. Be altogether at rest in the loving holy confidence which you ought to have in His heavenly Providence. Francis de Sales.

        God makes every common thing serve, if thou wilt, to enlarge that capacity of bliss in His love. Not a prayer, not an act of faithfulness in your calling, not a self-denying or kind word or deed, done out of love for Himself; not a weariness or painfulness endured patiently; not a duty performed; not a temptation resisted; but it enlarges the whole soul for the endless capacity of the love of God. E. B. Pusey. 

         Live not for selfish aims. Live to shed joy on others. Thus best shall your own happiness be secured; for no joy is ever given freely forth that does not have quick echo in the giver's own heart. Henry Ward Beecher.

        The contemplation of the rare splendors, the richer glories, of the new creation will be the gentle task, the pure delight, of our eternity. And in this world we are permitted to begin it. The life eternal begins here; and the eternal task, the eternal joy. To see the face of God in the creation, and to hear His voice from all its echoes; to see the smile of the Eternal Father of our spirits stealing up into the face of Nature, when the dawn glints its first flush across the eastern heavens, and the mountains, the trees, the woodlands, grow rosy with life and joy,—this pure, sweet, serene rest and refreshment of heart, mind, and spirit, our Mother Nature has to offer us; it is the soft, gentle, tender side of the care of the great Father, God. James Baldwin Brown.

        We wear the love of those about us like an every-day garment. It is only when we lose it, that we know the world is cold. Mary Ainge de Vere.

        Open your heart; open it without measure, that God and His love may enter without measure. Fénelon.

        God is love; and toward the fuller possession and fruition of this life there is but one straight road,—devotion. Other things are good and useful; one is vital,—heart-communion with God. We may well fear that not only the world, but the Church also, is growing too busy to pray. Bishop Thorold.

        The world is extremely beautiful,—it is brimful of beauty,—of more beauty, a thousand-fold, than the keenest sense has ever yet discovered. How dim and poor the love of the beautiful is, in most minds; in how many is it almost wholly wanting! ... But is it not better to have little of it, or none, than to permit it to fasten our eyes, and our thoughts, and our enjoyments to this earth; to make us love it for itself, and be content with it; to dim our thoughts, and weaken our desires and aspirations after a higher happiness than can ever come through the senses? For this is the "lust of the eye." And when is this enjoyment of the beautiful the happiness of the eye, and not its lust? It is when you cannot see the beautiful, and delight in it, without recognizing it as His work, His gift, and as the expression of His own perfect order and perfect love. Theophilus Parsons.

        If we sincerely loved the will of God, and only this, we should change our earth into a Heaven. We should thank God for everything.... Fénelon.

        Only let us love God, and then Nature will compass us about like a cloud of divine witnesses; and all influences from the earth, and things on the earth, will be the ministers of God to do us good. The breezes will whisper our souls into peace and purity; and in a valley, or from a hill-top, or looking along a plain, delight in beautiful scenery will pass into sympathy with that  indwelling through unseen spirit, of whose presence beauty is everywhere the manifestation, faint, indeed, because earthly. Then not only will the stars shed upon us light, but they will pour from Heaven sublimity into our minds, and from on high will rain down thoughts to make us noble. God dwells in all things; and, felt in a man's heart, He is then to be felt in everything else. Only let there be God within us, and then everything outside us will become a godlike help. Euthanasy.

        Let us be so charitable and tender to our fellow-travellers, as they halt and wait on this paltry planet to gather strength for the journey through the universe, that, meeting them in the immeasurable future, they may remember us not by storied urn or eulogistic epitaphs, but by the gentleness, and sympathy, and helpfulness we have shown them,—when little, both in time and action, counted much. Julius Henri Browne.

        The changing beauty of the outward world is an every fresh revelation of the Creator, adapted to renew day by day the loving adoration of His children. No phases of the outward world last long enough to stagnate in our thought. We have not ceased to marvel anew at the thin leafage of spring, hardly less ethereal than the fleecy clouds that bend over it, when we are surprised by the outburst of bloom and the dense foliage through which the sunbeams find no passage. Summer kindles, faster than we can count the days, into the gold and scarlet of autumn forests, and the kaleidoscopic splendors of the October sunset skies. Autumn seems short when we are overtaken by the hoary majesty of winter, with its glittering wreaths and fantastic masses of driven snow, its stalactites from roof and tree, and those glorious nights when the moon, conqueror and queen in a cloudless sky, is mirrored in frost-crystals, pure and white as her own radiance. Thus along the lyre-strings of universal Nature throb ever new strains of harmony, as if the Creator willed that the tones should never pall upon the listening ear, and never cease to call forth from the soul responsive notes of loving praise and worship. Andrew P. Peabody.

        It is our duty to be happy, because happiness lies in contentment with all the divine Will concerning us. George W. Bethune.

        The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone. George Eliot.

        How many happy months are swept beneath the silent wing of Time, and leave no name nor record in our hearts! Sweet moments of quietness and affection, glad hours of joy and hope, days—yea, many days—begun and ended in health and happiness, times and seasons of Heaven's gracious beneficence, stand before us yet again in the light of memory, and command us to be thankful, and to prize as we ought the gift of life.

        As the rays come from the sun, and yet are not the sun, even so our love and pity, though they are not God, but merely a poor weak image and reflection of Him, yet from Him alone they come. If there is mercy in our hearts, it comes from the fountain of mercy. If there is the light of love in us, it is a ray from the full sun of His love. Charles Kingsley.

        The flowers are God's undertones of encouragement to the children of earth.

        A child offered a teacher a handful of weeds and grasses, wilted and soiled, and said, "Here is a bouquet for you." The teacher saw the love in the child's eyes, and accepted the gift with sincere gratitude. So it is that Christ accepts our homeliest gifts or services, if he sees love in our heart.
 There is a story of a poor Arab, who came to a spring of pure water in the desert, and filled his leather bottle to carry it to the caliph. The caliph received the gift, and, pouring some of the water into a cup, drank it, thanking the Arab and rewarding him. The courtiers pressed forward, eager to taste the water, but the caliph forbade them. When the Arab had departed, the caliph told his courtiers why he had forbidden them to taste the water. In the long journey it had become distasteful. He knew that if any of the men should taste it they would show their disgust, and thus hurt the poor man's feelings. The Arab had brought his present all the long journey, with great toil and care, and because he loved the caliph. He did not know the water had become unwholesome, and the caliph wished him to have his pleasure unmarred.
        This illustrates the spirit with which Christ receives the gifts and services of those who love him. The gifts may be worthless, and the services may avail nothing, but for the love that prompts them, he accepts them with real gladness, and richly rewards them.

        The only way to make our life continuously beautiful, and to keep it ever sweet with love, is to insist on judging ourselves day by day.

       Some dainty women "toil not, neither do they spin." They keep their hands soft and white. They think any kind of work would mar the delicate beauty of their fingers. But they make a great mistake. The hands that are beautiful in heaven's sight are not the dainty ones that are never roughened or hardened by toil. Anything is beautiful just in the measure in which it fulfills the mission for which it was made. Hands were made to work; and an idle, useless hand, no matter how delicate and fair, is not a lovely hand.

        Like produces like. To be born of the Spirit is to have a new life imparted by the Spirit. This new life will be like that which produces it. Every one who is born of God will have some features of God's likeness. He will love the things that God loves, and hate the things that God hates. He will be like God in holiness, in unselfishness, in gentleness, in patience, in forgiveness, in truthfulness, in love.

Loving itself blesses us. It opens our heart and enriches our life. It teaches us the true meaning of life; for to live truly is to love.

        Love is more than a mere sentiment; it is also a life. The proof of it must be in acts.

A fruit-tree proves its usefulness by bearing fruit in the season. The rose-bush must prove its right to the distinction by putting forth beautiful roses. And when we claim to be Christ's friends, we must show it by doing what he bids us to do.

        God's will is always the best; it is always divine love.

        Our joy of doing God's work, and in making gifts to God, is measured by the real cost of the things we do and give. The more heart's blood there is in them, the more precious will they be to us and also to God. The richest treasures of our lives are those which have cost us the most.

God's love outlasts human love.

..."Beautiful thoughts make a beautiful soul." As we think in our heart so we are.
        There is a thought here for parents. If they would have happiness in seeing their children live beautiful lives, they must do more than give them good and wise counsels. Solomon was splendid at advising. His words are full of wisdom. If followed faithfully they will build into a life whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely. But we know how Solomon lived. It is little wonder that his son did not turn out well. Other parents need to guard against the same fatal mistake. No matter how well they may advise, if they do not themselves live godly lives, they will probably draw their children with them into ruin. They cannot by good advice overcome the force of bad example.

        Every fragment of loveliness we see in a human life is a heavenly vision sent to woo us upward. Wherever we see beauty which attracts us, and kindles in us desires and aspirations for higher attainments, it is a vision from God, whose mission is to call us to a higher life. We should make sure that we do not prove disobedient to any heavenly vision, but that we follow every one as an angel sent from heaven to woo us nearer God.

        We cannot know in what way we can best glorify God. It may be in work; it may be in quiet waiting; it may be in painful suffering. It is better, therefore, that we let God choose the way in which he would have us serve and honor him. The bird glorifies God by singing its sweet song, the flower by pouring out its fragrance. Mary praised Christ by sitting at his feet, Martha by serving him. If we do simply his will, that will always be best.

        It is worth our while to study what the Bible says about happiness and how to get it. Most people want to be happy, but there are many who miss the mark.
        Yet those who follow the Bible rules for happiness will never be disappointed. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom." Wisdom is a large word. It is not merely knowledge. A man may know so much that he is a walking encyclopedia, and yet not be happy. He may pursue knowledge into all its nooks and hiding-places, dig it out of the rocks, extract it from the minerals, gather it from flower and plant, draw it down from among the stars, and yet not find happiness. Knowing a great many things does not make one wise.
        Wisdom is knowledge applied to life. He has found wisdom who has learned to live well. To live well is to live according to God's laws, which are summed up in one word love—love to God and love to man. No one is happy who does not recognize God and do his will. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." No one can be really happy who does not love his fellow-men. Happiness never is found in selfishness. Those who seek it in thinking, toiling, and striving only for themselves will have a vain quest. It never lies that way. He only has found wisdom who has found rest in Christ.

        There is a power for good in everything; in everything something may be found that has true value and real worth; something that can add value to the welfare of man; but this something is found, not on the surface, but with the soul of things. It is therefore necessary to enter into perfect touch with the inner life of everything to secure the best from everything; and this is possible only through faith.

        Have faith in yourself and you will always be at your best; you will constantly express the best that exists in your conscious nature, and your work will be the result of your greatest capacity and highest efficiency.

        Faith is the hidden secret to greatness, because faith takes man into the inner life of that power that produces greatness. Therefore, he who has faith in himself may become anything, attain anything and accomplish anything.
        To have faith in yourself is to feel the life and power of that something with yourself that is limitless; that something that is created in the image and likeness of the Supreme.
        To grow in that faith, never think of the surface of your system, but think of the strong soul that permeates every atom of your being; mentally dwell upon the inner side of your life, and train your thought to act only upon the finer energies, the finer substance and the real spirit that fills your body, mind and soul.
        To develop faith in yourself have faith in the faith that declares that you are the image and the likeness of the Supreme, therefore limitless. Aim to be your best and live in the faith that you always will be your best; then have faith in your every word, your every thought and your every deed.
        Most important of all, whenever you try to have faith, whenever you think of faith, mentally feel the inner meaning of faith. This will invariably produce results.

        Innumerable kingdoms of marvelous beauty lie hidden within the world of color; and [the] same is true of the world of sound; and as to the possibilities that are latent in the sense of feeling, we have not dreamed a millionth part.
        We may think the world is beautiful; and it is, but our perception of the beautiful is in its first stages only; it remains for the further development of physical sight and the discernment of color to reveal to us worlds of splendor such as mind has never been able to picture.
        We may be charmed into ecstasy with certain tender strains of music, but the sweetest music is not heard; the most tender strains do not touch the soul; we pass them by, not even knowing of their existence. The world of sound with its innumerable symphonies is almost entirely closed to the average mind. He may be charmed with what little he does hear, but what will he be when he hears it all?
        It is through the further development of the physical senses that many of these beautiful worlds will be realized and enjoyed; and it is through faith that the physical senses will reach that higher state of development; because it is faith that enters the unknown; it is faith that transcends all limitations and gives to mind greater and greater measures of the immensities still in store.
        Faith is the secret to all that is hidden; and to him who follows faith, all things will be revealed.

        Do not wait for things to come your way; take hold of things and turn them the way they ought to be; faith will give you the power.
        When things go wrong, have faith; depend upon faith to set them right, and the limitless power that is back of faith will appear to fulfill your desire.
        When in the midst of changes expect every change to be an open door to better things than you ever knew before; live in that faith; permeate your whole heart, your whole life and your whole soul with that faith, and as your faith is, so shall it be.
        When you have obligations to meet, bills to pay, and have not the essentials required, have faith; never worry nor feel anxious for a moment; know that faith can open to you the realms of limitless supply, and know that faith will do this if you have faith in faith.
        Whatever you need place the matter in the hands of faith; faith will find a way; faith will reveal to you the necessary opportunities through which you may accomplish what you desire and meet your obligations. Do not ask how, simply depend upon faith; you will soon know how; have faith in faith and the hidden secrets of faith will be fully revealed to you.

        In every vocation, in every study and in every field of thought, there are new worlds of unbounded possibilities, which when discovered and developed will add immeasurably to the real worth of life.
        Never yearn for new worlds to conquer, nor complain because there are no opportunities at hand for you; there are a million worlds—rich, marvelous worlds at your very door; turn your attention to these and you shall have opportunities without number, not simply for the present, but for ages yet to be.
        The hidden secret to these new worlds is faith; enter faith and a new universe shall be given to you; a universe that is more real and substantial than anything you have known before; a universe that is marvelous in beauty, and filled with possibilities more numerous than the sands of the shore.

        Have faith, and sorrow, sickness, trouble and misfortune shall vanish completely; all mountains shall be removed, and nothing shall be impossible to you.
        Have faith, and all your desires shall positively be fulfilled; faith and desire united as One can bring anything, produce anything, create anything, and cause anything to transpire in the life of man.
        Faith gives invincible power to everything; faith is the hidden secret to all power; therefore, to enter faith is to enter the secret of faith, and the secret is hidden from you no more; the great within is opened before you, and unlimited power is at your command.

        There is something nobly simple and pure in a taste for the cultivation of forest trees. It argues, I think, a sweet and generous nature, to have a strong relish for the beauties of vegetation, and a friendship for the hardy and glorious sons of the forest. He who plants an oak looks forward to future ages and plants for posterity. Nothing can be less selfish than this. He cannot expect to sit in its shade and enjoy its shelter; but he exults in the idea that the acorn which he has buried in the earth shall grow up into a lofty pile, and shall keep on flourishing, and increasing, and benefiting mankind, long after he shall have ceased to tread his paternal fields. Washington Irving.

        Mind is the noblest part of man; and of mind, Virtue is the noblest distinction. Honest man, in the ear of Wisdom, is a grander name, is a more high-sounding title, than peer of the realm, or prince of the blood. According to the eternal rules of celestial precedency, in the immortal heraldry of Nature and of Heaven, Virtue takes place of all things. It is the nobility of angels! It is the majesty of God. Fawcett.

        Fields, forests, mountains, smiling valleys, and sunny seas are not more full of creatures than of happiness; and from the deep bass of ocean to the ringing carol of the lark, Nature forms one choir and chants her hymns to Him. Dr. Gurthrie.

        There is nothing so high as to be above God's care, and nothing so lowly as to be beneath it. He who keeps alive the unquenchable light of the star visible to a hemisphere, kindles the small taper of the glowworm that gleams in the twilight on the mossy bank. He who piles up and loosens the Alpine avalanche shapes the crystals of each falling snowflake. He who guides and bridles the storm wave that breaks in thunder upon the reef, preserves each invisible coral animal that builds its lime cell beneath the booming surf. He who sees from His glorious high throne the seraph veiling his face with his wings, takes note of the sparrow falling to the ground.

        Joy is a prize unbought, and is freest, purest in its flow, when it comes unsought. No getting into Heaven, as a place, will compass it. You must carry it with you, else it is not there. You must have it in you, as the music of a well-ordered soul, the fire of a holy purpose, the welling up out of the central depths of eternal springs that hide the waters there. Horace Bushnell.

        It is well to think well. It is divine to act well. Horace Mann.

        The greatest gift of our Heavenly Father is love, and of all gifts it is the most common. This alone is universal, and the humblest soul, in spite of the lack of opportunity, may so live that by sheer strength of love alone it may create for itself a heaven full of the presence of God, who is the Almighty Love.

        Set yourself earnestly to see what you were made to do, and then set yourself earnestly to do it...and the loftier your purpose is, the more sure you will be to make the world richer with every enrichment of yourself. Phillips Brooks.

        The morning prayer chimes in with the joy of the creation, with the quick world as it awakes and sings. It ought to bind itself up with the rising of the sun, the opening of the flowers, the divine service of the birds, the glow of cloudy bars on which the rays of light strike, a musician's fingers, and whose notes are chords and color. The voice of the world is prayer, and our morning worship should be in tune with its ordered hymn of praise. But in joy we should recall our weakness, and ask His presence who is strength and redemption, so that joy may be married to watchfulness by humility. Such a prayer is the guard of life. Stopford A. Brooke.

        Every breeze that stirs, every bird that sings, every flower that blooms, every moment with its utmost perfect possibility, is my minister,—a portion of the universal joy of life. Get thee behind me, world,—the world of mean cares, of self-love, of petty strifes, of poor ambitions! Get me that which is holy and eternal,—the kind word, the unselfish deed, the care of others in little things, the charity that can suffer and yet be kind, the affection, which, sweetening life and surviving death, is our only foretaste of Heaven.

        God's beneficence streams out from the morning sun, and His love looks down upon us from the starry eyes of midnight. It is His solicitude that wraps us in the air, and the pressure of His hand, so to speak, that keeps our pulses beating. Oh! it is a great thing to realize that the Divine Power is always working; that Nature in every valve and every artery is full of the presence of God. Edwin H. Chapin.

        There is a twofold peace. The first is negative. It is a relief from disquiet and a corroding care. It is repose after conflict and storms. But there is another and a higher peace to which this is the prelude,—a peace of God which passeth all understanding, and properly called the kingdom of Heaven within us. This state is anything but negative. It is the highest and most strenuous action of the soul,—but an entirely harmonious action, in which all our powers and affections are blended in a beautiful proportion, and sustain and perfect one another. It is more than silence after storms. It is the concord of all melodious sounds. It is a conscious harmony with God and the creation, an alliance of love with all beings, a sympathy with all that is pure and happy, and a surrender of every separate will and interest. William E. Channing.

        The measure of the love of God is to love without measure. Saint Francis de Sales, 1567-1622.

        Knowledge, prophecies, gifts of all kinds, pass away, but the love of God and the love of man never fail. Dean Stanley.

        The Teachings of Nature.—Jesus preached from a lily, and from a handful of wheat, and from the stones of the temple, and form the vines, and from a coin. Lessons of faith and honor and purity and charity exhale with the morning dew. Every sunrise is the proem and every sunset the peroration of a noble discourse from God to His children. The man who feels with, and suffers with, and smiles with Nature, to whom every flower and every grain of sand is a thought of God, and every leave a note in a continuous coronation song, has an ever-increasing resource from which to draw as a wise lover and leader of souls. As Goethe says, "To such there came trooping up out of the meadows and singing down out of the skies thoughts like free children of God, crying out: 'Here we are! Here we are!'"

        When happy thoughts come into your mind, let the thought of God come with them; and when you go into beautiful or attractive scenes, let the reconciled Presence go with you; till at last earth is suffused with Heaven, and with the immortal morning spread upon the mountains, death is done away, and the dark valley superseded.

        As flowers carry dewdrops, trembling on the edges of the petals, and ready to fall at the first waft of wind or brush of bird, so the heart should carry its beaded words of thanksgiving, and at the first breath of heavenly favor, let down the shower perfumed with the heart's gratitude. H. W. Beecher.

        Success is doing your best every day. One is not to excuse himself because he has but one talent. To double that is as surely success in God's sight as for another whose natural abilities and opportunities are five times as good, to carry his talents up to ten. Crafts.

        We are all builders. Life is a building. It rises slowly, day by day, through the years. Every new lesson we learn lays another block on the edifice which is rising silently within us. Every experience, every touch of another life on ours, ever influence that impresses us, every book we read, every conversation we have, every act of our commonest days, adds something to the invisible building. Rev. J. A. Worden.

        They had reached that high and pure friendship which is as willing to receive as it is to give. He is a friend who is willing to help, but his is friendship of a higher type that is willing to be helped. To carry another, how glorious it is! But to be gathered up to some loving heart and carried till strength comes to go on alone, how much sweeter and deeper a joy is this! M. L. Dickinson.

        "Labor is worship; yea, labor for God is happiness. Let not one of your talents rust for want of use. If you have but one, do not bury it; let it be said of you: ‘She hath done what she could.' Is there nothing, however small, that you can do with your pen and your knowledge? Try: see for yourselves what you can do. Work for God, and not for yourself. Your work will soon find its place is the vineyard of the Lord." [No Author Given]

        "Do the duty which lies nearest thee," which thou knowest to be a duty. Thy second duty will already have become clearer. T. Carlyle.

        There are people who would do great acts; but because they wait for great opportunities, life passes, and the acts of love are not done at all. Frederick W. Robertson.

        Wonderful things are wrought by prayer. It is the hand stretched out into the region of miracle, which brings the power of God and the help of God about us. He is always longing for help, but prayer is the means by which help comes. Annie Keary.

        The most obvious lesson in Christ's teaching is that there is no happiness in having and getting anything, but only in giving. I repeat, there is no happiness in having or getting, but only in giving. And half the world is on the wrong scent in the pursuit of happiness. They think it consists in having and getting, and in being served by others. It consists in giving and serving others. He that would be greatest among you, said Christ, let him serve. Henry Drummond.

        "The infallible receipt for Happiness, is to do good; and the infallible receipt for doing good is to abide in Christ. Fruit first, Joy next. Fruit bearing is the necessary antecedent; Joy both the necessary consequent and the necessary accompaniment. It lay partly in the bearing fruit, partly in the fellowship which made that possible. Partly, Joy lay in mere constant living in Christ's presence and partly in the inspiration to live and work for others." [No Author Given]

        Each of us is a distinct flower or tree in the spiritual garden of God—each of us watered and shone upon and filled with life for the sake of his flower, his completed being, which will blossom out of him at least to the glory and pleasure of the great Gardener. For each has within him a secret of the Divinity; each is growing towards the revelation of that secret to himself. Surely to know what He thinks about us, will pale out of our souls all our thoughts about ourselves! [No Author Given]

        Any boy who does what is right has the kingdom of God within him. Any boy who, instead of being quarrelsome, lives at peace with the other boys, has the kingdom of God within him. Any boy whose heart is filled with joy because he does what is right, has the kingdom of God within him. . .. Live in peace and harmony and brotherliness with everyone. For the kingdom of God is a kingdom of brothers...of people who try to be like Christ, and live to make the world better, and sweeter, and happier. Henry Drummond.

        Dost thou love life? Then waste not time, for time is the stuff that life is made of. Franklin.

        "A kind word, a gentle act, a modest demeanor, a loving smile, are so many seeds that we can scatter every moment of our lives, and which will always spring up and bear fruit." [No Author Given]

        Possess yourself as much as you possibly can in peace; not by any effort, but by letting all things fall to the ground which trouble or excite you. This is no work, but is like setting down a fluid to settle, that has become turbid through agitation. Madame Guyon.

        The very purpose of God, who is righteous and who loveth righteousness, is to make us righteous, which simply means to set us right. Righteousness is rightness, the doing what is right. But behind that, there is being right. Take all that goes to make a strong character: truthfulness, purity, patience, love, energy, gentleness. Put them all together, and if you want to sum them all up in one word, it is righteousness. Jesus, the perfect Man, is called the Righteous. Theodore Monod.

        Do what you can towards bringing out the noblest possibilities of your nature. Do what you can to think high thoughts, to love true things and to do noble deeds. Temptations beset you like those that have filled hearts as light as your with inexpressible sorrow. Are you doing what you can to make yourself strong to resist them? Before you hang the gilded trinkets of fashion, the embroidered banner of selfish lives. Do what you can to live for higher aims than these. J. L. Jones.

        Think how your own happiness fills you with kindliness to other people. But ask yourself at the same time, "Did any such thought as this come up first and foremost to my mind, and seem to me the most precious part of all my blessing, that God had done for me just to make me a fitter and more transparent medium through which He might send His comfort to other men?" Phillips Brooks.

        May God be ever in your heart. Francis De Sales.

        "A true smile is a good work, and may do much to reveal the Father who is in heaven; but the smile that is put on for the sake of looking right, or even for the sake of being right, will hardly reveal Him, not being like Him." [No Author Given]

        Christians! It is your duty not only to be good, but to shine; and, of all the lights which you kindle on the face, Joy will reach furthest out to sea, where troubled mariners are seeking the shore. Even in your deepest griefs, rejoice in God. As waves phosphoresce, let joys flash from the sorrows of your souls. Henry Ward Beecher.

        Doing good is the only certain happy action of a man's life. Sir Philip Sidney.

        "We can do more good by being good than in any other way." [No Author Given]

        Let us serve God in the sunshine, while He makes the sunshine. F. W. Faber.

        The light of the sun is very old; but the morning, every morning is very new. Pulitzer.

        "Over the triple doorways of the Cathedral of Milan there are three inscriptions spanning the splendid arches. Over one is carved a beautiful wreath of roses, and underneath is the legend, ‘All that which pleases is but for a moment.' Over the other is sculptured a cross, and there are the words, ‘All that which troubles us is but for a moment.' But underneath the great central entrance to the main aisle is the inscription, ‘That only is important which is eternal.' If we live for the latter we will not live for the passing pageants of the hour." [No Author Given]

        "The happiest homes are those in which the members are accustomed to render personal service to each other." [No Author Given]

        The truest and best help any one can give to others is not in material things, but in ways that make them stronger and better. Money is good alms, when money is really needed; but in comparison with the divine gifts of hope, friendship, courage, sympathy, and love it is paltry and poor. Usually the help people need is not so much the lightening of their burden as fresh strength to enable them to bear their burden and stand up under it. The best thing we can do for another, as some one has said, is not to make some things easy for him, but to make something of him. J. R. Miller, D. D.

        Learn to be as the angel who could descend among the miseries of Bethesda without losing his heavenly purity or his perfect happiness. Gain healing from troubled waters. J. H. Newman.

        "Never let an opportunity go by, be it ever so small in our eyes; God is able to bring from it the greatest results." [No Author Given]

        As flowers carry dewdrops, trembling on the edges of the petals, and ready to fall at the first waft of wind or brush of bird, so the heart should carry its beaded words of thanksgiving, and at the first breath of heavenly favor, let down the shower perfumed with the heart's gratitude. H. W. Beecher.

        Success is doing your best every day. One is not to excuse himself because he has but one talent. To double that is as surely success in God's sight as for another whose natural abilities and opportunities are five times as good, to carry his talents up to ten. Crafts.

        We are all builders. Life is a building. It rises slowly, day by day, through the years. Every new lesson we learn lays another block on the edifice which is rising silently within us. Every experience, every touch of another life on ours, ever influence that impresses us, every book we read, every conversation we have, every act of our commonest days, adds something to the invisible building. Rev. J. A. Worden.

        They had reached that high and pure friendship which is as willing to receive as it is to give. He is a friend who is willing to help, but his is friendship of a higher type that is willing to be helped. To carry another, how glorious it is! But to be gathered up to some loving heart and carried till strength comes to go on alone, how much sweeter and deeper a joy is this! M. L. Dickinson.

        "Labor is worship; yea, labor for God is happiness. Let not one of your talents rust for want of use. If you have but one, do not bury it; let it be said of you: ‘She hath done what she could.' Is there nothing, however small, that you can do with your pen and your knowledge? Try: see for yourselves what you can do. Work for God, and not for yourself. Your work will soon find its place is the vineyard of the Lord." [No Author Given]

        There are people who would do great acts; but because they wait for great opportunities, life passes, and the acts of love are not done at all. Frederick W. Robertson.

        Wonderful things are wrought by prayer. It is the hand stretched out into the region of miracle, which brings the power of God and the help of God about us. He is always longing for help, but prayer is the means by which help comes. Annie Keary.

        Any boy who does what is right has the kingdom of God within him. Any boy who, instead of being quarrelsome, lives at peace with the other boys, has the kingdom of God within him. Any boy whose heart is filled with joy because he does what is right, has the kingdom of God within him. . .. Live in peace and harmony and brotherliness with everyone. For the kingdom of God is a kingdom of brothers...of people who try to be like Christ, and live to make the world better, and sweeter, and happier. Henry Drummond.

        The universe is the realized Thought of God. Carlyle.

        Make it the interest of others to be your friends. Command honors, as well as bestow them. Dr. Sample.

        One clairvoyance on earth is certain, and that is the clairvoyance of love. Anon.

        Life outweighs all things if Love lies within it. Goethe.

        Smiles are the language of love. Anon.

        Do thoroughly whatever work God may give you to do, and cultivate all you talents besides. If God does not utilize these talents in this world, he will in the next. Dr. A. A. Hodge.

        Man's best powers point him Godward. Spurgeon.

        Love has a thousand modes and forms, all of which may be consistent with reality and truth. It may come like the burst of morning light, kindling the whole soul into new life and radiance; it may grow inaudibly and unknown, until its roots are found to be through and through the heart, entwined with its every fibre; it is unreal and false only when it is a name for some form of selfishness. Peter Bayne.

        The molecule of oxygen roams lonely through the vast universe yearning for its mate, and finding no rest till, of a sudden, it meets the molecule of hydrogen in a quiet nook; when lo! A rush, an embrace, and then no more either oxygen or hydrogen, but a diamond drop of dew sparkling on the white bosom of the lily. Gail Hamilton.

        If there is anything better than to be loved, it is loving. Anon.

        Geology gives us a key to the patience of God. Holland.

        True love, like Greek fire, is inextinguishable. Ike Marvel.

        Be a bold, brave, true, honest man. If you know a thing is right, do it. If you have a solemn conviction, dare to utter it in the fear of God, regardless of the wrath of man. Gough.

        Take the earth and grind it into the smallest sand and scatter it throughout space, and there will not be a grain for each star. Agassiz.

        To do is to succeed. Schiller.

        Good temper, like a sunny day, sheds a brightness over everything. It is the sweetener of toil and the soother of disquietude. Washington Irving.

        Love is never lost. If not reciprocated it will flow back and soften and purify the heart. Irving.

        Words, at the touch of the poet, blossom into poetry. Holmes.

        Choose that which is best and custom will make it most agreeable. Dr. J. W. Scott.

        Every man's life is a plan of God. Bushnell.

        Our youthful troubles and their sources are soon forgotten, but the objects of beauty which gladden the early life never cease to yield us delight. They become the stars of the firmament of youth, lighting up the pathway of the past, and when in later years, the night of sorrow gathers round the soul, memory, like the astronomer's tube, piercing the surrounding gloom, sweeps that distant sky, and reveals those stars still shining with undiminished lustre. The heart renews its youth, and the whole man is cheered and invigorated by the contemplation of those things of beauty that were the delight of happier days. Henry A. Walker, Wheeling, Va.

        Love depends on the loving, and not on the loved! Bulwer.

        We can sing away our cares easier than we can reason them away. The birds are the earliest to sing in the morning; the birds are more without care than anything else I know of. Sing in the evening. Singing is the last thing that robins do. When they have done their daily work, when they have flown their last flight, and picked up their last morsel of food, and cleansed their bills on a napkin of a bough, then on a top twig they sing one song of praise. I know they sleep sweeter for it. They dream music, for sometimes in the night they break forth in singing, and stop suddenly after the first note, startled by their own voice. Oh that we might sing evening and morning, and let song touch song all the way through! Oh that we could put songs under our burdens! Oh that we could extract the sense of sorrow by song! Then these things would not poison so much. Sing in the house—teach your children to sing. When troubles come, go at them with songs. When griefs arise, sing them down. Lift the voice of praise against cares. Praise God by singing; that will lift you above trials of every sort. Attempt it. They sing in heaven, and among God's people on earth song is the appropriate language of Christian feeling. Beecher.

        Flowers are the smiles of God's goodness. Wilburforce.

        Make the best of everything;
        Think the best of everybody;
        Hope the best for yourself,
        Do as I have done—persevere.
                       George Stephenson.

        Of too much beauty let us complain when we have had a spring day too delightful, a sun-beam too delicately spun, an autumn too abundant. The finest writers in the world have been the most luxuriant. Gilfillan.

        A man's best wealth ought to be himself. William Austin.

        God made this world very fair. He fashioned it in beauty when there was no eye to behold it but  his own. All along the wild forest he has carved the forms of beauty. Every cliff and stem and flower is a form of beauty. Every hill and dale and tree and landscape is a picture of beauty. Every cloud and mist-wreath and vapor-veil is a shadowy reflection of beauty. Every spring and rivulet, every river and lake and ocean, is a glassy mirror of beauty. Every diamond and rock and pebbly beach is a mine of beauty. Every sea and planet and star is a blazing face of beauty. All along the aisles of earth, all over the arches of heaven, all through the expanse of the universe, are scattered in rich and infinite profusion the life-germs of beauty. All natural motion is beauty in action. From the mote that plays its little frolic in the sunbeam, to the world the blazes along the sapphire spans of the firmament, are visible the ever-varying features of the enrapturing spirit of beauty. Anon.

        There is only one stimulant that never fails, and yet never intoxicates—Duty. Duty puts a blue sky over every man—up in his heart may be—into which the sky-lark, Happiness, always goes singing. George W. Prentice.

        This world is very lovely: O my God,
        I thank thee that I live. Alexander Smith.

        Love is as gold in the rock. The mountain is but stone, and the gold is rare and scarce, and is found in veins here and there. So in this life it is in loving. We are too proud, too coarse, too selfish, too ungenerous; we are not magnanimous enough. Love runs in veins through us; and we are to take the experiences of love when it is in its most perfect moments in its ecstatic state, as it were purified gold, seven times purified and made clean—we are to take these as our ideas. The we are to lift up, by imagination, our conceptions to a state in which our character will turn on this feeling—not occasionally, but as an ordinary experience. Nay, we should rise up so completely into the influence of the purity and disinterestedness of this feeling as that it shall control all the other feelings, and harmonize them, till the conscience, and the reason, and the moral sentiments all are penetrated with the summer of love, as the whole atmosphere is, at times, penetrated by the warmth, the fragrance, and beauty of nature. And when we have thus by loving raised the ideal of loving, that very ideal comes back to rebuke, to correct, to restrain. It does not diminish and undervalue love; it augments the value of it. It teaches us how small it is; how it should be developed; and how pure, how unselfish, how generous, how noble it ought to be. H. W. Beecher.

        Every breath of air and ray of light and heat, every beautiful prospect, is, as it were, the spirits of those garments, the waving of the robes of those whose faces see God. Dr. J. Henry Newman on the Angels.

        A sunny, cheerful view of life, resting on truth and fact, co-existing with practical aspiration ever to make things, men and self better than they are—this is the true, healthful poetry of existence. Robertson.

        Although this is an aesthetic age, and en have fallen in love with the beautiful, yet all educated persons demand neatness and simplicity in every form of religious worship. Earthly beauty suggests and leads on to the infinite beauty and loveliness of the Son of God; simplicity enters largely into the beauty of holiness. Edinbugh Review on Ritualism.

        Poetry, being the concentrated richness and bloom of many seeds of thought gradually growing up into height and beauty, deserves to occupy the most prominent place in the garden of literature. No should it be considered merely as an object of curious loveliness, to be stooped over for a moment by an eye dazzled and fatigued with the contemplation of the surrounding beds. This flower, thus rising, as it were, upon the stem of grace is not only precious for its wonderful mechanism of color and perfume, but it is precious also for the charm it works upon the intellectual eyesight. Like the fabled plant of antiquity, it purifies and brightens the vision of the understanding. To eyes sprinkled and enlightened by this flower no scene is barren and no tree is leafless. Every fountain shines with the form of its guardian naiad, and every wood is musical with the pipe of its sylvan spirit. Eclectic Magazine.

        This is the luxury of music. It touches every key of memory and stirs all the hidden springs of sorrow and of joy. I love it for what it makes me forget and for what it makes me remember. Belle Brittain.

        Every act done in the great work of human progress will ever live. Every act which tends to the annihilation of error is a little rock started from the mountain-top, which gathers force on its way downward and starts others at every bound. Anon.

        The best thing in the world is to be a Christian. Rev. Phillips Brooks, Philada.

        The fountain of perpetual youth in the heart has often been said to be poetry; it should rather be called thought—thought in whatever high, earnest form, but especially in those forms which are most full of activity without the gladness within. Anon.

        The great secret of success in life is, for a man to be ready when his opportunity comes. Disraeli to the young men of Liverpool.

        What shall we say of flowers—those banners of the vegetable world—which march in such various and splendid triumph before the coming of its fruits. Argyll.

        Old truths are always new to us, if they come with the smell of heaven upon them. John Bunyan.

        Poets are all who love—who feel great truths and tell them. Bailey's Festus.

        The Bible, diamond-like, casts its lustre in every direction; torch-like, the more shaken the more it shines; herb-like, the more pressed the sweeter its fragrance. Anon.

        We should endeavor to forgive injuries and bury them in love. Dr. Watts.

        The best of men and the most earnest workers will make enough of mistakes to keep them humble. Thank God for mistakes and take courage. Don't give up on account of mistakes. D. L. Moody.

        There is always sunset and sunrise somewhere.
        The sun goes round the world preceded
        And followed by a heaven of glory. Anon.

        Love for one human being ought to endear all the world to us. Miss L. L. F.

        The sun which ripens the corn and fills the succulent herb with nutriment also pencils with beauty the violet and the rose. J. C. Abbott.

        The world is what we make it. Forward then, forward, in the power of faith, forward in the power of truth, forward in the power of friendship, forward in the power of freedom, forward in the power of hope, forward in the power of God. Harry Vincent.

        To love satisfies one half of our nature; to be love satisfies the other half. Dr. A. A. Hodge.

        The root that produces the beautiful and flourishing tree, with all its spreading branches, verdant leaves and refreshing fruit—that which gains for it sap, life, vigor and fruitfulness—is all unseen; and the farther and the deeper the root spreads beneath, the more the tree expands above. Christian, if you wish to prosper, if you long to bring forth all the fruits of the Spirit, strike your roots deep and wise in private prayer. That faith and support, that strength and grace, which you seek of God in secret, that it may be exercised in the hour of need, God will in that hour give it you before men. Bickersteth.

        Our best things are near us,
        Lie close about our feet. Anon.

        Beautiful to the believer is every work of Nature. To him there is a loveliness and meaning in the humblest herb, and smallest insect; and he knows that, whenever beauty meets the eye, then should instruction go to the heart.
        But the object which more than all others combines both beauty and instruction, is LIGHT. Beautiful is light when it shines from the dazzling sun, and beautiful when it beams from the milder moon; beautiful when it flashes from some dark thunder-cloud, and beautiful when it twinkles from myriads of evening stars. Beautiful is it when concentrated in noonday clouds, and beautiful when, with scarlet and purple, it curtains the sunset sky. Beautiful is it in the north, when its varying colors stream upward in the borealis; and beautiful in the south, when it reddens the midnight sky from seas of prairie fire.
        Beautiful is light when it crests the ocean billow, and beautiful when it dances on the rippling streamlet; beautiful when it lies like a silvery robe on the placid lake, and beautiful when it turns the foaming surge to fretted gold. Beautiful is light when it flashes from the maiden's eye, and beautiful when it sparkles from the diamond on her hand.
        Beautiful are the varying hues of light, as they flit and change on the water bubble, and beautiful are they when marshalled in the rainbow, Beautiful is the light which glistens from millions of points and pinnacles in arctic glaciers, and beautiful when it rests like a glorious crown on Alpine mountains; and beautiful also is light, when it breaks through forest boughs, and holds wild play with the flitting shadow.
        Beautiful are the coruscations of light in the laboratory of the chemist, and beautiful is the fireside light when friends around it meet in that dearest of all earth's spots, in "home sweet home." Beautiful is light to the poor man, when it comes through the little lattice to brighten his humble cot, and beautiful to the prince, when it streams through gilded casements to illuminate his palace.
        Beautiful is the light of morn to the Persian worshipper, and beautiful is it after the night-storm to the shipwrecked mariner. Beautiful is it to the child of guilt or affliction, to whom the night can bring no quiet rest; and beautiful, after their undisturbed sleep, is it to all beasts, birds, and insects, whose morning voices unite in one loud thanksgiving for the light.
        Beautiful is light to the dungeon prisoner, when, after years of darkened life, he stands beneath the sun's glad beams; and beautiful is it to the invalid, when from the couch of sickness he emerges into the bright ocean above and round him, and from the depths of his grateful heart he blesses God for the light.
        Beautiful also is light to the timid child, when, after awakening in darkness, his screams of terror have brought some taper, and, as though he knew that his guardian angel had come to watch his slumbers, he lays his cheek upon his little hand, even shuts his eye upon the wished-for object and sweetly sleeps—for it is light.
        Beautiful is light when it paints the tulip with gold, the rose with crimson, and the grass-grown earth with living green. Yes, beautiful is every light of morn, of eve, of midnight, and of noon; and grateful for all beauty should we be to Him who is the "Father of lights."

        Beautiful to the believer is every work of Nature. To him there is a loveliness and meaning in the humblest herb, and smallest insect; and he knows that, whenever beauty meets the eye, then should instruction go to the heart.
        But the object which more than all others combines both beauty and instruction, is LIGHT. Beautiful is light when it shines from the dazzling sun, and beautiful when it beams from the milder moon; beautiful when it flashes from some dark thunder-cloud, and beautiful when it twinkles from myriads of evening stars. Beautiful is it when concentrated in noonday clouds, and beautiful when, with scarlet and purple, it curtains the sunset sky. Beautiful is it in the north, when its varying colors stream upward in the borealis; and beautiful in the south, when it reddens the midnight sky from seas of prairie fire.
        Beautiful is light when it crests the ocean billow, and beautiful when it dances on the rippling streamlet; beautiful when it lies like a silvery robe on the placid lake, and beautiful when it turns the foaming surge to fretted gold. Beautiful is light when it flashes from the maiden's eye, and beautiful when it sparkles from the diamond on her hand.
        Beautiful are the varying hues of light, as they flit and change on the water bubble, and beautiful are they when marshalled in the rainbow, Beautiful is the light which glistens from millions of points and pinnacles in arctic glaciers, and beautiful when it rests like a glorious crown on Alpine mountains; and beautiful also is light, when it breaks through forest boughs, and holds wild play with the flitting shadow.
        Beautiful are the coruscations of light in the laboratory of the chemist, and beautiful is the fireside light when friends around it meet in that dearest of all earth's spots, in "home sweet home." Beautiful is light to the poor man, when it comes through the little lattice to brighten his humble cot, and beautiful to the prince, when it streams through gilded casements to illuminate his palace.
        Beautiful is the light of morn to the Persian worshipper, and beautiful is it after the night-storm to the shipwrecked mariner. Beautiful is it to the child of guilt or affliction, to whom the night can bring no quiet rest; and beautiful, after their undisturbed sleep, is it to all beasts, birds, and insects, whose morning voices unite in one loud thanksgiving for the light.
        Beautiful is light to the dungeon prisoner, when, after years of darkened life, he stands beneath the sun's glad beams; and beautiful is it to the invalid, when from the couch of sickness he emerges into the bright ocean above and round him, and from the depths of his grateful heart he blesses God for the light.
        Beautiful also is light to the timid child, when, after awakening in darkness, his screams of terror have brought some taper, and, as though he knew that his guardian angel had come to watch his slumbers, he lays his cheek upon his little hand, even shuts his eye upon the wished-for object and sweetly sleeps—for it is light.
        Beautiful is light when it paints the tulip with gold, the rose with crimson, and the grass-grown earth with living green. Yes, beautiful is every light of morn, of eve, of midnight, and of noon; and grateful for all beauty should we be to Him who is the "Father of lights."

        Blessed are the Happiness Makers. Blessed are they who know how to shine on one's gloom with their cheer. Henry Ward Beecher. (Title Page)

        The world is so full of a number of things
        I'm sure we should all be happy as kings.
                    —Robert Louis Stevenson. (p. 7)

        The idea has been transmitted from generation to generation, that happiness is one large and beautiful stone, a single gem so rare that all search after it is in vain, all effort for it hopeless. It is not so. Happiness is mosaic, composed of many smaller stones. Each taken apart and viewed singly may be of little value; but when all are grouped together and judiciously combined and set, they form a pleasing and graceful whole—a costly jewel. Trample not under feet, then, the little pleasures which a gracious Providence scatters in the daily path, and which, in eager search after some great and exciting joy, we are apt to overlook. Why should we always keep our eyes fixed on the bright, distant horizon, while there are so many lovely roses in the garden in which we are permitted to walk? The very ardor of our chase after happiness may be the reason that she so often eludes our grasp.
        If you ever find happiness by hunting for it, you will find it, as the old woman did her lost spectacles, safe on her own nose all the time. Josh Billings. (p. 9)

        Love is not getting, but giving; not a wild dream of pleasure, and a madness of desire—oh, no, love is not that—it is goodness and honor, and peace and pure living—yes, love is that; and it is the best thing in the world, and the thing that lives longest. Henry van Dyke. (p. 10)

        If you wish to be borne with yourself, bear with others. Thomas À Kempis. (p 14)

        Keep your face always toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you. M. B. Whitman. (p. 19)

        I expect to pass through this life but once. If therefore there is any kindness I can show, or any good I can do to any fellow-being, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. A. B. Hegeman. (p. 21)

        What is good is worth repeating. Plato. (p. 22)

        And one should give a gleam of happiness whenever it is possible. George Eliot. (p. 31)

        Try to be happy in this present moment, and not put off being so to a time to come; as thought that time should be of another make from this, which has already come, and is sure. T. Fuller. (p. 33)

        To be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars; to be satisfied with your possessions but not contented with yourself until you have made the best of them; to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice; to be governed by your admirations rather than your disgusts; to covet nothing that is your neighbor's except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friend, and every day of Christ; and to spend as much time as you can with body and with spirit, in God's out-of-doors—these are little guide-posts on the foot-path to peace. Henry van Dyke. (p. 36)

        What is useful is beautiful. Socrates. (p. 36)

        To be honest, to be kind, to earn a little, and to spend a little less, to make, upon the whole, a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not to be embittered, to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation; above all, on the same condition, to keep friends with himself: here is a task for all a man has of fortitude and delicacy. Robert Louis Stevenson. (p. 40)

        Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but, above all, the power of going out of one's self, and seeing and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another. Thomas Hughes. (p. 42)

        So long as we love, we serve; so long as we are loved by others I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend. Robert Louis Stevenson. (p. 46)

        Be not simply good—be good for something. Henry David Thoreau. (p. 52)

        Let us learn to be content with what we have; let us get rid of our false estimates, set up all the higher ideals—a quiet home; vines of our own planting; a few books full of the inspiration of a genius; a few friends worthy of being loved and able to love us in return; a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain or remorse; a devotion to the right that will never swerve; a simple religion empty of all bigotry, full of trust and hope and love—and to such a philosophy this world will give up all the empty joy it hast. David Swing. (p. 56)

        May all go well with you! May life's short day glide on peaceful and bright, with no more clouds tan may glisten in the sunshine, no more rain than may form a rainbow. Richter. (p. 71)

        To work, to help and to be helped, to learn sympathy through suffering, to learn faith by perplexity, to reach truth through wonder,—behold! This is what it is to prosper, this is what it is to live. Phillips Brooks. (p. 77)

        "He that brings sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from himself." [No Author Given] (p. 78)

        This truth comes to us more and more the longer we live: that on what field or in what uniform or with what aims we do our duty, matters very little, or even what our duty is. Great or small, splendid or obscure. Only to find our duty certainly, and somewhere, somehow, to do it faithfully, makes us good, strong, happy and useful men, and tunes our lives into some feeble echo of the life of God. Phillips Brooks. (p. 81)

        Without distinction, without calculation, without procrastination, love. Lavish it upon the poor, where it is very easy; especially upon the rich, who often need it most; most of all upon our equals, where it is very difficult, and for whom perhaps we each do least of all. Henry Drummond. (p 82)

        You find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest effort to confer that pleasure on others! You will find half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy. L. M. Child. (p. 86)

        Seek your life's nourishment in your life's work. Phillips Brooks. (p. 95)

        "Of all the lights you carry on your face, joy shines farthest out to sea." [No Author Given] (p. 96)

        Good deeds ring clear through heaven like a bell. Charles Dickens. (p. 100)

        "A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues." [No Author Given] (p. 105)

        "Happiness does not depend on money or leisure, or society, or even on health; it depends on our relation to those we love." [No Author Given] (p. 105)

        There is positive proof in the single sunbeam of the existence of the sun. Phillips Brooks. (p. 120)

        Be of good cheer, brave spirit; steadfastly serve that low whisper thou hast served; for know, God hath a select family of sons now scattered wide thro' earth, and each alone, who are thy spiritual kindred, and each one by constant service to that inward law, is weaving the sublime proportions of a true monarch's soul. Beauty and strength, the riches of a spotless memory, the eloquence of truth, the wisdom got by searching of a clear and loving eye that seeth as God seeth. These are their gifts, and Time, who keeps God's word, brings on the day to seal the marriage of these minds with thine, thine everlasting lovers. Ye shall be the salt of all the elements, world of the world. Emerson. (p. 126)

        The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it. Andrew Carnegie. (p.127)

        The grand essentials of happiness are, something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. Chalmers. (p 130)

        The making of friends, who are real friends, is the best token we have of a man's success in life. Edward Everett Hale. (p. 132)

        A cottage will hold as much happiness as would stock a palace. James Hamilton. (p. 136)

        The path of success in business is invariably the path of common sense. Samuel Smiles. (p. 136)

        Remember this—that very little is needed to make a happy life. Marcus Aurelius. (p. 137)

        The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. Chalmers. (p. 138)

        You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments that stand out, the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of love. Henry Drummond. (p. 139)

        If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more starry, more immortal,—that is your success. All nature is your congratulation and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. Henry David Thoreau.

        There is only one way to get ready for immortality, and that is to love this life, and live it as bravely and faithfully and cheerfully as we can. Henry van Dyke. (p. 140)

        That best portion of a good man's life,—
        His little, nameless, unremembered acts
        Of kindness and of love. Wordsworth. (p. 146)

        A good deed is never lost; he who shows courtesy, reaps friendship; and he who plants kindness, gathers love. Basil. (p. 147)

        Beyond all doing of good is the being good; for he that is good not only does good things, but all that he does is good. George MacDonald. (p. 147)

        If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counsellor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius. Addison. (p. 150)

        The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. Disraeli. (p. 153)

        The test of your Christian character should be that you are a joy-bearing agent to the world. Henry Ward Beecher. (p. 155)

        "The beauty of the house is order, the blessing of the house is contentment, the glory of the house is hospitality, the crown of the house is godliness." [No Author Given] (p. 160)

        If any little word of ours can make one life the brighter;
        If any little song of ours can make one heart the lighter;
        God help us speak that little word, and take our bit of singing,
        And drop it in some lonely vale, and set the echoes ringing. [No Author Given] (p. 163)

        "The Flower of Life is Happiness" (Inner Front Cover)

        Seek to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life. Alexander MacLaren. (p. 14)

        Guard within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meaning. Know how to replace in your heart, by the happiness of those you love, the happiness that may be wanting in yourself. Baroness Dudevant (George Sand). (p. 16)

        Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to a good conscience: for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of—a blessing that money cannot buy; therefore value it, and be thankful for it. Izaak Walton. (p. 26)

        A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world: he that has these two has little more to wish for, and he that wants either of them will be but little the better for anything else. John Locke. (p. 27)

        Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other. Joseph Addison. (p. 30)

        To give happiness and to do good, there is our only law, our anchor of salvation, our beacon light, our law of existing. Our religions may crumble away; so long as this survives we have still an ideal, and life is worth living. Henri Frederic Amiel. (p. 34)

        Happiness is like manna; it is to be gathered in grains, and enjoyed every day. It will not keep; it cannot be accumulated; nor have we got to go out of ourselves or into remote places to gather it, since it has rained down from Heaven, at our very doors. Selected. (p. 37)

        There is no such thing as finding true happiness by searching for it directly. It must come, but the service, the love, and the happiness we give to others. Ralph Waldo Trine. (p. 40)

        The sunshine of life is made up of very little beams that are bright all the time. To give up something, when giving up will prevent unhappiness; to yield, when persisting while chafe and fret others; to go a little around rather than come against another; to take an ill look or a cross word quietly, rather than resent or return it,—these are the ways in which clouds and storms are kept off, and a pleasant an steady sunshine secured. John Aiken. (p. 44)

        The perfect loveliness of a woman's countenance can only consist in that majestic peace which is founded in the memory of happy and useful years, full of sweet records; and from the joining of this with that more majestic childishness, which is still full of change and promise—opening always—modest at once, and bright, with the hope of better things to be won, and to be bestowed. There is no old age when there is still that promise. John Ruskin. (p. 44)

        Little kindnesses, pleasant words, little helps by the way, trifling courtesies, little encouragements, duties faithfully done, unselfish service, work that we enjoy, friendships, love and affection—all these are simple things, yet they are what constitute happiness. Orison Swett Marden. (p. 45)

        Is not making others happy the best happiness? To illuminate for an instant the depths of a deep soul, to cheer those who bear by sympathy the burden of so many sorrow-laden hearts and suffering lives, is to me a blessing and a precious privilege. There is a sort of religious joy in helping to renew the strength and courage of noble minds. We are surprised to find ourselves the possessors of a power of which we are not worthy, and we long to exercise it purely and seriously. Henri Frederic Amiel. (p. 46)

        Those who have the most of happiness think the least about it. But in thinking about and in doing their duty happiness comes—because the heart and mind are occupied with earnest thought that touches at a thousand points the beautiful and sublime realities of the universe. William Makepeace Thackeray. (p. 47)

        Kind words produce their own image in men's souls; and what a beautiful image it is. The soothe and quiet and comfort the hearer. They shame him out of his sour, morose, unkind feelings. We have not yet begun to use kind words in such abundance as they ought to be used. Blaise Pascal. (p. 47)

        Pour forth all the odour, charm, and happiness you have to all your friends, to your home, to your daily society, to the poor and sorrowful, the joyous and the prosperous. Charm the world by love. Brighten darkened lives, soften the rude, make a sunshine of peace in stormy places, cover the faults and follies of men with the flowers of love. Stopford A. Brooke. (p. 48)

        Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven; and every countenance bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence. Washington Irving. (p. 51)

        Little deeds of kindness, little words of love,
        Make our earth an Eden like the heaven above. Julia A. Carney. (p. 58)

        Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles, and kindness and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort. Sir Humphrey Davy. (p. 58)

        Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety—all this rust of life ought to be scoured of by the oil of mirth. It is better than emery. Blessed is he who has a sense of the humorous! He has that which is worth more than money. Henry Ward Beecher. (p 63)

        Laughing cheerfulness throws the Light of day on all the paths of life.... Jean Paul Richter. (p. 66)

        The first indication of domestic happiness is the love of one's home. M. de Montlosier. (p. 72)

        Six things are requisite to create a "happy home." Integrity must be the architect, and tidiness the upholsterer. It must be warmed by affection, lighted up with cheerfulness; and industry must be the ventilator, renewing the atmosphere and bringing in fresh salubrity day by day; while over all, as a protecting canopy and glory, nothing will suffice except the blessing of God. Alexander Hamilton. (p. 72)

        Our home joys are the most delightful earth affords, and the joy of parents in their children is the most holy joy of humanity. J. H. Pestalozzi. (p. 74)

        To Adam paradise was home.—To the good among his descendants, home is paradise. Julian Charles Hare. (p. 77)

        God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race—to enlarge our hearts; and to make us unselfish and full of kindly sympathies and affections; to give our souls higher aims; to call out all our faculties to extended enterprise and exertion; and to bring round our firesides bright faces, happy smiles, and loving, tender hearts.—My soul blesses the great Father, every day, that He has gladdened the earth with little children. Mary Howitt. (p. 78)

        In many a home a world of happiness would be saved, if only each one were content to love without asking or wondering just how much love he gets in return. A. J. Haynes. (p. 81)

        The first duty to children is to make them happy. Thomas Fowell Buxton. (p. 82)

        Blessed be the hand that prepares a pleasure for a child, for there is no saying when and where it may bloom forth. Douglas Jerrold. (p. 83)

        The sweetest and happiest homes—homes to which men in weary life look back with yearning too deep for tears; homes whose recollections linger round our manhood like light and the sunshine and the sweet air, into which no base things can intrude—are homes where brethren dwell together in unity; where, because all love God, all love their brothers also; where, because all are very dear to all, each is dearer to each than to himself. Frederic William Farrar. (p. 84)

        Home should be an oratorio of the memory, singing to all our after life melodies and harmonies of old-remembered joy. Henry Ward Beecher. (p. 88)

        Joy is the happiness of love. It is love exulting. It is love aware of its own felicity, and resting in riches, which it has not fear of exhausting. It is love taking a view of its treasures, and surrendering itself to bliss without foreboding. James Hamilton. (p. 95)

        Joy demands that its joy should be shared. The man who has found his sheep that was lost calls together his neighbours, and bids them rejoice with him because he has found the sheep that was lost. Joy is more social than grief. Joy finds its counterpart in the sunshine and the flowers, and the birds and the little children, and enters easily into all the movements of life. Hugh Black. (p. 95)

        The happy people are those who have work which they love, and a hobby of a totally different kind which they love even better. Arthur C. Benson. (p. 103)

        Work never hurts anyone. Work is one of the conditions of long life and happiness, of health and success. Work itself is one of the greatest blessings. I would not exchange the seventy years of hard work that God has given me for all the gold of the nation, for in that work we touch the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. Henry Foster. (p. 106)

        "One of the things that I am thankful for every day that I live is for my share in the world's work," said a wise and busy woman. "I am thankful that my hands are full." The blessing of the full hands and the full days is one that we sometimes fail to appreciate until illness or some other misfortune forces us to stand aside for a time while the eager, useful procession passes by without us. A vital part in the world we live in, a head and a hand for its work, a heart for its needs, its joys, its burdens, and faith for its outlook—these are the best gifts that can be ours for healthful and happy days. Selected. (p. 107)

        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. John Ruskin.

        Many books belong to sunshine, and should be read out of doors. Clover, violets, and hedge roses breathe from their leaves; they are most lovable in cool lanes, along field paths, or upon stiles overhung by hawthorn, while the blackbird pipes and the nightingale bathes its brown feathers in the twilight copse. Willmott. (p.117)

        No matter what his rank or position may be, the lover of books is the richest and the happiest of the children of men. John Alfred Langford. (p. 127)

        Neglect no opportunity of doing good, nor check thy desire of doing it by a vain fear of what may happen. Francis Atterbury. (p. 128)

        Music, the greatest good that mortals know
        And all of heaven we have below. Joseph Addison. (p. 138)

        For the beauty of a lovely woman is like music; what can one say more? George Eliot. (p. 138)

        Among the instrumentalities of love and peace, surely there can be no sweeter, softer, more effective voice than that of gentle, peace-breathing music. Elihu Burritt. (p. 139)

        Only when the song of God's love is singing in our hearts are we ready for the day. James R. Miller. (p. 143)

        Let us try to make our lives like songs, brave, cheery, tender and true, that shall sing themselves into other lives, and so help to lighten burdens and cares. Selected. (p. 143)

        The melody of your soul will echo the melody you have sun or spoken. Persist in the practice, speaking always in kindly tones, looking out of kindly eyes, cherishing kindly feelings, and the habit of kindliness and good cheer will become a second nature. Your face will be transfigured by the spirits's high endeavour, and the light of it will comfort and stimulate yourself and others with the power of living sunshine. Sara Hubbard. (p. 145)

        Happy is the house that shelters a friend! it might well be built like a festal bower or arch, to entertain him a single day. Happier, if he knew the solemnity of that relation and honor its law. Ralph Waldo Emerson. (p. 153)

        Every one must have felt that a cheerful friend is like a sunny day, which sheds its brightness all around; and most of us can, as we choose, make this world either a palace or a prison. Selected. (p. 158)

        When God formed the rose, he said, "Thou shalt flourish and spread thy perfume." When He commanded the sun to emerge from chaos, he added, "Thou shalt enlighten and warm the world." When He give life to the lark, He enjoined upon it to soar and sing in the air. Finally, He created man and told him to love. And seeing the sun shine, perceiving the rose scattering its odors, hearing the lark warble in the air, how can any man help loving? Anastasia Grün. (p. 167)

        There is no happiness in the world in which love does not enter; and love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition. Alexander Smith. (p. 167)

        Love, like the opening of the heavens to the saints, shows for a moment, even to the dullest man, the possibilities of the human race. He has faith, hope, and charity for another being, perhaps but a creature of his imagination. Still, it is a great advance for a man to be profoundly loving even in his imagination. Sir Arthur Helps. (p. 170)

        To love is to place our happiness in the happiness of another. Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibnitz. (p. 171)

        Love is better than spectacles to make everything seem great. Sir Philip Sidney. (p. 172)

        Let us rejoice in life, in freedom, and in love. H. W. Willing. (p. 176)

        Happiness is a wayside flower, free to all who pluck it, not a rare orchid only to be purchased by the rich. There is a bit of joy in every floating, fleecy cloud, every golden sunset tin in each day's evening sky. There is music in the free winds of heaven if hearts are a-tune to catch the harmony. M. G. Woodhull. (p. 182)

        Like a great poet, Nature produces the greatest results with the simplest means. There are simply a sun, flowers, water and love. Of course, if the spectator be without the last, the whole will present but a pitiful appearance, and, in that case, the sun is merely so many miles in diameter, the trees are good for fuel, the flowers are classified by stamens, and the water is simply wet. Heinrich Heine. (p. 184)

        Nature ever yields reward
        To him who seeks, and loves her best.
                —Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall). (p. 185)

        The happiness of life consists, like the day, not in single flashes (of light), but in one continuous mild serenity. The most beautiful period of the heart's existence is in this calm equable light, even although it be only moonshine or twilight. Now the mind alone can obtain for us this heavenly cheerfulness and peace. Jean Paul Richter. (p. 195)

        If you would be useful and happy, if you would be strong and brave, believe in the future, believe in it for yourselves, believe in it for the world. Believe in a millennium of some kind or another. Samuel Smith Harris. (p. 196)

        Happiness consists not in having much, but in wanting no more than you have. Lydia M. Child. (p. 200)

        We should hope for everything that is good, because there is nothing which may not be hoped for, and nothing but what the gods are able to give us. Linus. (p. 205)

        The greatest happiness of man is hope. Leopold Schefer. (p. 207)

        Hope is like the wing of an angel, soaring up to heaven, and bearing our prayers to the throne of God. Jeremy Taylor. (p. 207)

        A loving heart encloses within itself an unfading and eternal Eden. Jean Paul Richter. (p. 212)

        Never let your star of hope sink low. No matter how bad the present may be, and how dark the future may appear, the clouds will break away, and the hope star will beckon you on to brighter and better things. H. W. Willing. (p. 212)

        The testimony of a good conscience will make the comforts of heaven descend upon a man's weary head like refreshing dew or shower upon a parched land. It will give him lively earnests and secret anticipations of approaching joy; it will bid his soul go out of the body undauntedly, and lift up his head with confidence before saints and angels. Robert South. (p. 217)

        Virtue, the strength and beauty of the soul,
        Is the best gift of Heaven: a happiness
        That even above the smiles and frowns of fate
        Exalts great Natures's favourites: a wealth
        That ne'er encumbers, nor can be transferr'd.
                        —John Armstrong. (p. 223)

        To be able under all circumstances to practise five things constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness. Confucius. (p. 224)

        One sure way to get into heaven, for a day at least, is to do a kind act to some one who does not like you. M. M. Pomeroy. (p. 231)

        True religion is the poetry of the heart: it has enchantments useful to our manners; it gives us both happiness and virtue. Joseph Joubert. (p. 234)

        Genuine happiness is the delicate perfume of a holy life. The sanctified soul exhales happiness as the flowers emit sweet odours. Heaven is a tropical garden of conscious spirits, and its atmosphere is laden with happiness as the normal product of their purity. Darius Clark Knowles. (p. 234)

        There is only one thing greater than happiness in the world, and that is holiness. Henry Drummond. (p. 235)

        Let us seek the grace of a cheerful heart, an even temper, sweetness, gentleness, and brightness of mind, as walking in His light, and by His grace. Let us pray to Him go give us the spirit of ever-abundant, ever-springing love, which overpowers and sweeps away the vexations of life by its own richness and strength. John Henry Newman. (p. 238)

        The happy state of mind, so rarely possessed, in which we say, "I have enough," is the highest attainment of philosophy. Happiness consists, not in possessing much, but in being content with what we possess. He who wants little always has enough. Johann Georg Von Zimmermann. (p. 240)

        The purest joy we can experience in one we love is to see that person a source of happiness to others. Selected. (p. 245)

        The gentle ministries of love which make you take time to perform as you hurry from task to task in your busy days will give you the sweetest joy as you remember them in the after-days. What these ministries are to those who receive them you never can know till your own heart is sad and lonely and one comes to you in turn with the true comfort of love. Train yourself to the habit of sympathy. Be ready any hour to speak the full rich word of love which shall lighten the burden of the one you meet. Everywhere are hearts that need and hunger for what you have to give, and God has given love to you for the very purpose of blessing those whom he sends to you day by day. James R. Miller. (p. 248)

        The world would be both better and brighter if we would dwell on the duty of happiness, as well as on the happiness of duty. Sir John Lubbock. (p. 251)

        The greatest happiness of life, I find, after all, to consist in the regular discharge of some mechanical duty. Johann Von Schiller. (p. 254)

          man of the greatest intellectual gifts and attainments may be doing his duty in scrubbing the floor. If he is doing his duty he is doing the highest thing in all the universe. Let no one say he stoops to such toil. If he himself feels that he stoops to do it he is not a man of high character. It is an exalted privilege that we are permitted to do anything that is of use. All work stands above us and beckons us up. Happy is he who sees every duty as above him and worth of his best. Mary Emily Case. (p. 254)

        If you are but content you have enough to live upon with comfort. Plautus. (p. 259)

        Contentment furnishes constant joy. From the Chinese. (p. 260)

        "It is a great blessing to possess what one wishes," said one to an ancient philosopher.—"It is a greater still," was the reply, "not to desire what one does not possess." Selected. (p. 262)

        He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper; but he more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances. David Hume. (p. 266)

        Memory is the only paradise out of which we cannot be driven away. Indeed, our first parents were not to be deprived of it. Jean Paul Richter. (p. 269)

        Mankind are always happier for having been happy; so that if you make them happy now, you make them happy twenty years hence by the memory of it. . . . No enjoyment, however inconsiderable, is confined to the present moment. A man is the happier for life from having made once an agreeable tour, or lived for any length of time with pleasant people, or enjoyed any considerable interval of innocent pleasure. Sydney Smith. (p. 271)

        The years that bring us many ills, and that pass so stormfully over us, bear away with them the ugliness, the weariness, the pain that are theirs, but the beauty, the sweetness, the rest, they leave untouched, for these are eternal. As the mountains that near at hand stand jagged and scarred, in the far distance repose in their soft robes of purple haze, so the rough present fades into the past soft and sweet and beautiful. Ralph Connor. (p. 276)

        Hope shall brighten days to come
        And memory gild the past. Thomas Moore. (p.277)

        The man who radiates good cheer, who makes life happier wherever he meets it, is always a man of vision and of faith. He sees the blossoming flower in the tiny seed, the silver lining to every cloud, and a beautiful tomorrow in the darkest day.

        The wealth of a man is the number of things he loves and blesses, which he his loved and blessed by.—Thomas Carlyle. (p. 10)

        The cheerful live longest in years, and afterwards in our regards. Cheerfulness is the offshoot of goodness.—Boves. (p. 13)

        If you have knowledge, let others light their candles by it.—Thomas Fuller. (p. 15)

        To be polite is to do and say
          The kindest things in the kindest way.—Sophia Bronson Titterington. (p.24)

        Cheeriness is a thing to be more profoundly grateful for than all that genius ever inspired or talent ever accomplished. Next best to natural, spontaneous cheeriness, is deliberate, intended and persistent cheeriness, which we can create, can cultivate and can so foster and cherish that after a few years the world will never suspect that it was not a heredity gift.—Helen Hunt Jackson. (p. 29)

        That happy state of mind, so rarely possessed, in which we can say, "I have enough," is the highest attainment of philosophy. Happiness consists, not in possessing much, but in being content with what we possess. He who wants little always has enough.—Zimmerman. (p. 29)

        There is only one way to be happy and that is to make somebody else so.—Sidney Smith. (p. 31)

        This is the best day the world has ever seen. Tomorrow will be better. R. A. Campbell. (p. 33)

        Whether the world is blue or rosy depends upon the kind of spectacles we wear. It's our glasses, not the world, that need attention. [No Author Given.] (p. 34)

        Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so.—Robert G. Ingersoll. (p. 35)

    The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.—Chalmers. (p. 36)

        I do the best I know. The very best I can; and I mean to keep right on doing so until the end.—Abraham Lincoln. (p. 38)

        The best preacher is the heart; the best teacher is time; the best book is the world; the best friend is God.—The Talmud. (p. 40)

        Believe in yourself, believe in humanity, believe in the success of your undertakings. Fear nothing and no one. Love your work. Work, hope, trust. Keep in touch with today. Teach yourself to be practical and up-to-date and sensible. You cannot fail. [No Author Given.] (p. 40)

        Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. He has a work, a life purpose; he has found it, and will follow it!—Thomas Carlyle. (p. 41)

        Write it on your hearts that every day is the best day of the year.—Ralph Waldo Emerson. (p. 42)

        Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks.—Charles Dickens. (p. 43)

        He who has conferred a kindness should be silent; he who has received one should speak of it.—Seneca. (p. 43)

        I do not know of any way so sure of making others happy as being so one's self.—Sir Arthur Helps. (p. 44)

        Make one person happy each day and in forty years you have made 14,600 human beings happy for a little time at least. [No Author Given.] (p. 49)

        Desire joy and thank God for it. Renounce it, if need be, for others' sake. That's joy beyond joy.—Robert Browning. (p. 49)

        In months of sun so live that in months of rain thou shalt still be happy.—From the "Mahabharata." (p. 50)

        God has given us tongues that we may say something pleasant to our fellow-men.—Heinrich Heine. (p. 53)

        Happiness, at least, is not solitary; it joys to communicate; it loves others, for it depends on them for its existence; it sanctions and encourages to all delights that are not unkind in themselves. The very name and appearance of a happy man breathe of good-nature, and help the rest of us to live.—Robert Louis Stevenson. (p. 57)

        One makes one's own happiness only by taking care of the happiness of others.—Saint-Pierre. (p. 59)

My criteria: Quotes selected must be primarily positive, whenever possible emphasize the beautiful, and hopefully combine essential, interesting, useful, and valuable thoughts or advice.
These pleasant, uplifting, inspiring, enduring and perhaps pertinent gems are my free gift to you.
(Since the quotations presented here are, to the best of my knowledge, exempt from all current U. S. copyright restrictions, you may use this material any way you wish. Frame them on your wall, share them with others or just enjoy them yourself. But don't miss them.)
I will also be adding a separate collection of the best of the best quotations that I am able to find.
(Much more to come later...)