You think that upon the score of foreknowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve. --Socrates. O yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taints of blood; That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroyed, Or cast as rubbish to the void, When God hath made the pile complete. --Alfred Tennyson. How precious is thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings. --Psalm 36. 7. Eternal God, forbid that I should try to set up thy judgment-seat in so small a place as self, and attempt to render decisions for thee. My soul lives anew as I think of thy love, and that there is no place where thy mercy can be withheld from me. Amen. JUNE SIXTH Diego R. Velasquez born 1599. Pierre Corneille born 1606. Nathan Hale born 1755. Sir John Stainer born 1840. These stones that make the meadow brooklet murmur Are the keys on which it plays. O'er every shelving rock its touch grows firmer, Resounding notes to raise. If every path o'er which footsteps wander, Were smooth as ocean strand, There were no theme for gratitude and wonder At God's delivering hand. --W. E. Winks. We also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope. --Romans 5. 3, 4. My Father, if rain may come to-day, may I realize its help, with the power of the sun, to increase life; and may its influence be sweet and wholesome to me, as I learn that sadness is temporary and will disappear with the coming of gladness. May I go search for the joy that may be mine to-day. Amen. JUNE SEVENTH Robert Bruce died 1329. George Bryan (Beau Brummel) born 1778. Rev. W.D. Conybeare born 1787. When the lamp is shattered The light in the dust lies dead-- When the cloud is scattered The rainbow's glory is shed. When the lute is broken Sweet tones are remembered not; When the lips have spoken Loved accents are soon forgot. --Percy Bysshe Shelley. A slip of the rose may take root, and bring forth a bloom to give peace to the soul. A slip of the tongue may take root, and bring forth a thorn that will torture the soul. --M.B.S. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. --John 15. 4. Many of us, O Father, overlook the fragrance of the rose while we are being pierced by its thorn. Increase my faith in life and in thee, that I may not be dismayed over mysteries, but sincerely wait for deliverance. Amen.