AWAKE, my Soul, and with the sun BISHOP KEN A SERVANT with this clause Makes drudgery divine; Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, Makes that, and the action, fine. GEORGE HERBERT GIVE us this day our daily bread IN Waking N the morning, when you awake, accustom yourself to think first upon God, or something in order to His service; and at night also let Him close thine eyes: and let your sleep be necessary and healthful, not idle and expensive of time beyond the needs and conveniences of nature; and sometimes be curious to see the preparation which the sun makes, when he is coming forth from his chambers of the east. JEREMY TAYLOR I To the Comtesse de Gramont THINK you should try, without any painful effort, to dwell upon God as often as a longing for recollection, and regret that you cannot cultivate it more, comes over you. It will not do to wait for disengaged seasons, when you can close your door and be alone. The moment in which we crave after recollection is that in which to practise it; turn your heart then and there to God simply familiarly and trustfully. The most interrupted seasons may be used thus; not merely when you are out driving, but when you are dressing, having your hair arranged-even when you are eating and when others are talking. . . . A passing thought of God during mealtimes (especially when they are long, and OUR DAILY BREAD with considerable intervals) will be very profitable in helping you to resist self-indulgence and your exceeding fastidiousness. Besides, in the first hungry beginning of a meal there is often not much conversation, and then you can turn your thoughts to God. But all this should be done naturally as the inclination arises, and not constrainedly. FÉNELON I Our Daily Bread HOPE, friend, you and I are not too proud to ask for our daily bread, and to be grateful for getting it? Mr. Philip had to work for his, in care and trouble, like other children of men :-to work for it, and I hope to pray for it too. It is a thought to me awful and beautiful, that of the daily prayer, and of the myriads of fellow-men uttering it, in care and in sickness, in doubt and in poverty, in health and in wealth. Panem nostrum da nobis hodie. Philip whispers it by the bedside where wife and child lie sleeping, and goes to his early labour with a stouter heart: as he creeps to his rest when the day's labour is over, and the quotidian bread is earned, and breathes his hushed thanks to the bountiful Giver of the meal. All over this world what an endless chorus is singing of love, and thanks, and prayer. Day tells to day the wondrous story, and night recounts it unto night.--How do I come to think of a sunrise which I saw near twenty years ago on the Nile, when the river and sky flushed SLEEP with the dawning light and, as the luminary appeared, the boatman knelt on the rosy deck and adored Allah? So, as thy sun rises, friend, over the humble housetops round about your home, shall you wake many and many a day to duty and labour. May the task have been honestly done when the night comes; and the steward deal kindly with the labourer. W. M. THACKERAY Sleep LEEP is that death by which we may be literally SLEEP said to die daily; a death which Adam died before his mortality; a death whereby we live a middle and moderating point between life and death; in fine, so like death, I dare not trust it without my prayers and an half adieu unto the World, and take my farewell in a Colloquy with God. The night is come, like to the day, On my temples Sentry keep; Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes But such as Jacob's temples blest. SLEEP While I do rest, my Soul advance; That I may, my rest being wrought, O come that hour, when I shall never This is the Dormitive I take to bedward; I need no other Laudanum than this to make me sleep; after which I close mine eyes in security, content to take my leave of the Sun, and sleep unto the Resurrection. SIR THOMAS BROWNE |