For Jehovah God is a sun and a shield: Jehovah will give grace and glory; No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. --Psalm 84. 11. My Father, may I not err in choosing thy benefits, nor fail from the neglect to use them. Make me appreciative of all thy gifts, and, through thy wisdom and power, may I find the best use for them. Amen. APRIL TWENTY-SIXTH David Hume born 1711. Daniel Defoe died 1791. Charles F. Browne (Artemus Ward) born 1834. How strange a chequer-work of Providence is the life of man! and by what secret different springs are the affections hurried about, as different circumstances present! To-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear; nay, even tremble at the apprehension of. --Daniel Defoe. Now don't do nothin' which isn't your Fort, for ef you do you'll find yourself splashin' round in the Kanawl, figgeratively speakin'. --Artemus Ward. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all. --1 Corinthians 12. 4-6. Lord forbid that I should fear to change for the better or be so pleased with myself and the things which surround me that I feel no need for a higher life. Make me dissatisfied if I am not trying to grow in truth and to live in noble deeds. Amen. APRIL TWENTY-SEVENTH Samuel Morse born 1791. Lajos Kossuth born 1802. Herbert Spencer born 1820. Ulysses S. Grant, Ohio, eighteenth President United States, born 1822. Ralph Waldo Emerson died 1882. People who are dishonest, or rash, or stupid will inevitably suffer the penalties of dishonesty, or rashness, or stupidity. --Herbert Spencer. Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life; obey thy heart. --Ralph Waldo Emerson. Well, then, we must cut our way out. --General Grant. Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. --Ephesians 6. 13. Loving Father, help me to live a simple and noble life. Grant that I may have the blessedness that comes through peace, and escape the misery that comes from cruelty and untruth. Through my life may what I reap show that I have been careful in choosing and cultivating what I have sown. Amen. APRIL TWENTY-EIGHTH Charles Cotton born 1630. James Monroe, Virginia, fifth President United States, born 1758. Anthony Ashley, Earl of Shaftesbury, born 1801. During a long life I have proved that not one kind word ever spoken, not one kind deed ever done, but sooner or later returns to bless the giver, and becomes a chain, binding men with golden bands to the throne of God. --Earl of Shaftesbury.