We ought to measure our actual lot, and to fulfil it; to be with all our strength that which our lot requires and allows. What is beyond it, is no calling of ours. How much peace, quiet, confidence, and strength, would people attain, if they would go by this plain rule. H. E. MANNING. April 19 _The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him_.--EZRA viii. 22. _Into Thy hand I commit my spirit_.--PS. xxxi. 5. Thou layest Thy hand on the fluttering heart, And sayest, "Be still!" The silence and shadow are only a part Of Thy sweet will; Thy presence is with me, and where Thou art I fear no ill. F. R. HAVERGAL. Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of God, to turn thy mind to the Lord God, from whom life comes; whereby thou mayest receive His strength, and power to allay all blustering storms and tempests. That is it which works up into patience, into innocency, into soberness, into stillness, into stayedness, into quietness, up to God with His power. Therefore be still awhile from thy own thoughts, searching, seeking, desires, and imaginations, and be stayed in the principle of God in thee, that it may raise thy mind up to God, and stay it upon God; and thou wilt find strength from Him, and find Him to be a God at hand, a present help in the time of trouble and need. GEORGE FOX. April 20 _I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry_.--PS. xl. 1. _Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope,_--ROM. v. 3, 4. Lord, we have wandered forth through doubt and sorrow, And Thou hast made each step an onward one; And we will ever trust each unknown morrow,-- Thou wilt sustain us till its work is done. S. JOHNSON. It is possible, when the future is dim, when our depressed faculties can form no bright ideas of the perfection and happiness of a better world,--it is possible still to cling to the conviction of God's merciful purpose towards His creatures, of His parental goodness even in suffering; still to feel that the path of duty, though trodden with a heavy heart, leads to peace; still to be true to conscience; still to do our work, to resist temptation, to be useful, though with diminished energy, to give up our wills when we cannot rejoice under God's mysterious providence. In this patient, though uncheered obedience, we become prepared for light. The soul gathers force. WM. E. CHANNING. April 21 _Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect_.--MATT. v. 48. _As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness_.--PS. xvii. 15. The righteousness he marks in Thee His will to right doth win; Delighting in Thy purity, He deeply drinks it in. T. H. GILL.