True, we can never be at peace till we have performed the highest duty of all,--till we have arisen, and gone to our Father; but the performance of smaller duties, yes, even of the smallest, will do more to give us temporary repose, will act more as healthful anodynes, than the greatest joys that can come to us from any other quarter. G. MACDONALD. May 9 _The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord_.--JOB i. 21. What Thou hast given, Thou canst take, And when Thou wilt new gifts can make. All flows from Thee alone; When Thou didst give it, it was Thine; When Thou retook'st it, 't was not mine. Thy will in all be done. JOHN AUSTIN. We are ready to praise when all shines fair; but when life is overcast, when all things seem to be against us, when we are in fear for some cherished happiness, or in the depths of sorrow, or in the solitude of a life which has no visible support, or in a season of sickness, and with the shadow of death approaching,--then to praise God; then to say, This fear, loneliness, affliction, pain, and trembling awe are as sure tokens of love, as life, health, joy, and the gifts of home: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;" on either side it is He, and all is love alike; "blessed be the name of the Lord,"--this is the true sacrifice of praise. What can come amiss to a soul which is so in accord with God? What can make so much as one jarring tone in all its harmony? In all the changes of this fitful life, it ever dwells in praise. H. E. MANNING. May 10 _The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants; and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate_.--PS. xxxiv. 22. _Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him_.--JOB xiii. 15. I praise Thee while my days go on; I love Thee while my days go on: Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost, With emptied arms and treasure lost, I thank Thee while my days go on. E. B. BROWNING. The sickness of the last week was fine medicine; pain disintegrated the spirit, or became spiritual. I rose,--I felt that I had given to God more perhaps than an angel could,--had promised Him in youth that to be a blot on this fair world, at His command, would be acceptable. Constantly offer myself to continue the obscurest 'and loneliest thing ever heard of, with one proviso,--His agency. Yes, love Thee, and all Thou dost, while Thou sheddest frost and darkness on every path of mine. MARY MOODY EMERSON. May 11 _Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil_?--JOB ii. 10. _Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word_.--PS. cxix. 65. Whatsoe'er our lot may be, Calmly in this thought we'll rest,-- Could we see as Thou dost see, We should choose it as the best. WM. GASKELL.