We cannot say this or that trouble shall not befall, yet we may, by help of the Spirit, say, nothing that doth befall shall make me do that which is unworthy of a Christian. R. SIBBES. December 6 _This God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death_.--PS. xlviii. 14. _For the Lord shall be thy confidence_.--PROV. iii. 26. 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. BORTHWJCK. He has kept and folded us from ten thousand ills when we did not know it: in the midst of our security we should have perished every hour, but that He sheltered us "from the terror by night and from the arrow that flieth by day"--from the powers of evil that walk in darkness, from snares of our own evil will. He has kept us even against ourselves, and saved us even from our own undoing. Let us read the traces of His hand in all our ways, in all the events, the chances, the changes of this troubled state. It is He that folds and feeds us, that makes us to go in and out,--to be faint, or to find pasture,--to lie down by the still waters, or to walk by the way that is parched and desert. H. E. MANNING. We are never without help. We have no right to say of any good work, it is too hard for me to do, or of any sorrow, it is too hard for me to bear; or of any sinful habit, it is too hard for me to overcome. ELIZABETH CHARLES. December 7 _Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace_.--JOB xxii. 21. _All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children_.--ISA. liv. 13. Unite, my roving thoughts, unite In silence soft and sweet; And thou, my soul, sit gently down At thy great Sovereign's feet. P. DODDRIDGE. Yes! blessed are those holy hours in which the soul retires from the world to be alone with God. God's voice, as Himself, is everywhere. Within and without, He speaks to our souls, if we would hear. Only the din of the world, or the tumult of our own hearts, deafens our inward ear to it. Learn to commune with Him in stillness, and He, whom thou hast sought in stillness, will be with thee when thou goest abroad. E. B. PUSEY. The great step and direct path to the fear and awful reverence of God, is to meditate, and with a sedate and silent hush to turn the eyes of the mind inwards; there to seek, and with a submissive spirit wait at the gates of Wisdom's temple; and then the Divine Voice and Distinguishing Power will arise in the light and centre of a man's self. THOMAS TRYON. December 8 _Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings_.--EPH. i. 3. _As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing_.--2 COR. vi. 10. It is not happiness I seek, Its name I hardly dare to speak; It is not made for man or earth, And Heaven alone can give it birth.