August 26

Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord_.--ZECH. ii. 13.

Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn;
Let noise and vanity be gone:
In secret silence of the mind,
My heaven, and there my God, I find.
I. WATTS.

It is only with the pious affection of the will that we can be spiritually
attentive to God. As long as the noisy restlessness of the thoughts goes
on, the gentle and holy desires of the new nature are overpowered and
inactive.
J. P. GREAVES.

There is hardly ever a complete silence in our soul. God is whispering to
us wellnigh incessantly. Whenever the sounds of the world die out in the
soul, or sink low, then we hear these whisperings of God. He is always
whispering to us, only we do not always hear, because of the noise, hurry,
and distraction which life causes as it rushes on.
F. W. FABER.

The prayer of faith is a sincere, sweet, and quiet view of divine, eternal
truth. The soul rests quiet, perceiving and loving God; sweetly rejecting
all the imaginations that present themselves, calming the mind in the
Divine presence, and fixing it only on God.
M. DE MOLINOS.