Whate'er events betide, Thy will they all perform; Safe in Thy breast my head I hide, Nor fear the coming storm. H. F. LYTE. I have seemed to see a need of everything God gives me, and want nothing that He denies me. There is no dispensation, though afflictive, but either in it, or after it, I find that I could not be without it. Whether it be taken from or not given me, sooner or later God quiets me in Himself without it. I cast all my concerns on the Lord, and live securely on the care and wisdom of my heavenly Father. My ways, you know, are, in a sense, hedged up with thorns, and grow darker and darker daily; but yet I distrust not my good God in the least, and live more quietly in the absence of all by faith, than I should do, I am persuaded, if I possessed them. JOSEPH ELIOT, 1664. May 22 _He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty_.--PS. xci. I. They who on the Lord rely, Safely dwell though danger's nigh; Lo! His sheltering wings are spread O'er each faithful servant's head. When they wake, or when they sleep, Angel guards their vigils keep; Death and danger may be near, Faith and love have nought to fear. HARRIET AUBER. "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling," is a promise to the fullest extent verified in the case of all "who dwell in the secret place of the Most High." To them sorrows are not "evils," sicknesses are not "plagues;" the shadow of the Almighty extending far around those who abide under it, alters the character of all things which come within its influence. ANON. It is faith's work to claim and challenge loving-kindness out of all the roughest strokes of God. S. RUTHERFORD. MAY 23 _Be content with such things as ye have_.--HEB. xiii. 5. _I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content_.--PHIL. iv. 11 ( R. V.). No longer forward nor behind I look in hope or fear; But, grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here. J. G. WHITTIER. If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these:-- 1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather. 2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not. 3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another. 4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself. 5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide." E. B. PUSEY. May 24 _Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby_.--HEB. xii. I1.