July 17

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.—ISA. XXX, 15.

Be still, my soul! Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future, as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake,

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

J. BORTHWICK.

Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself.

CICERO.

A mind may be still though active: and the quietness which is part of the "confidence" we have in Him, the Christ, is only found in the close abiding in Him, emblemed in His own parable of the Vine and the branches.

ROSE PORTER.

The grandest operations, both in nature and in grace, are the most silent and imperceptible. The shallow brook babbles in its passage and is heard by every one, but the coming on of the seasons is silent and unseen; the storm rages and alarms, but its fury is soon exhausted and its effects are partial and soon remedied, but the dew, though gentle and unheard, is immense in quantity, and the very life of large portions of the earth. And these are pictures of the operations of grace in the Church and in the soul.

RICHARD CECIL.

The heart that is to be filled to the brim with holy joy must be held still.

BOWES.