November 15

Do all things without murmurings and disputings. —PHIL. ii, 14.

The wounded heart is prone to entertain Presumptuous thoughts and feelings which arraign The appointed course of things: but what are we, Short-sighted creatures of an hour, That we should judge? In part alone we see, And this but dimly. He who ordereth all Beholdeth all, at once and to the end: Upon His wisdom and His power, His mercy and His boundless love, we rest; And resting thus in humble faith, we know, Whether the present be for weal or woe, For us whatever is, must needs be best.

ROBERT SOUTHEY.

Even the smallest discontent of conscience may render turbid the whole temper of the mind; but only produce the effort that restores its peace, and over the whole atmosphere a breath of unexpected purity is spread; doubt and irritability pass as clouds away; the withered sympathies of earth and home open their leaves and live; and through the clearest blue the deep is seen of the heaven where God resides.

J. MARTINEAU.