If God requires anything of us, we have no right to draw back under the pretext that we are liable to commit some fault in obeying. It is better to obey imperfectly than not at all. Perhaps you ought to rebuke some one dependent on you, but you are silent for fear of giving way to vehemence;--or you avoid the society of certain persons, because they make you cross and impatient. How are you to attain self-control, if you shun all occasions of practising it? Is not such self-choosing a greater fault than those into which you fear to fall? Aim at a steady mind to do right, go wherever duty calls you, and believe firmly that God will forgive the faults that take our weakness by surprise in spite of our sincere desire to please Him. JEAN NICOLAS GROU. September 13 _It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord_.--LAM. iii. 26. _Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation_.--PS. lxii. I. Not so in haste, my heart; Have faith in God, and wait; Although He linger long, He never comes too late. ANON. The true use to be made of all the imperfections of which you are conscious is neither to justify, nor to condemn them, but to present them before God, conforming your will to His, and remaining in peace; for peace is the divine order, in whatever state we may be. FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON. You will find it less easy to uproot faults, than to choke them by gaining virtues. Do not think of your faults; still less of others' faults; in every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong: honor that; rejoice in it; and, as you can, try to imitate it; and your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes. J. RUSKIN. September 14 _Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not_.--JER. xxxiii. 3. _And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked_.--I KINGS iii. 13. No voice of prayer to Thee can rise, But swift as light Thy Love replies; Not always what we ask, indeed, But, O most Kind! what most we need. H. M. KIMBALL. If you have any trial which seems intolerable, pray,--pray that it be relieved or changed. There is no harm in that. We may pray for anything, not wrong in itself, with perfect freedom, if we do not pray selfishly. One disabled from duty by sickness may pray for health, that he may do his work; or one hemmed in by internal impediments may pray for utterance, that he may serve better the truth and the right. Or, if we have a besetting sin, we may pray to be delivered from it, in order to serve God and man, and not be ourselves Satans to mislead and destroy. But the answer to the prayer may be, as it was to Paul, not the removal of the thorn, but, instead, a growing insight into its meaning and value. The voice of God in our soul may show us, as we look up to Him, that His strength is enough to enable us to bear it. J. F. CLARKE. September 15