Ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done, saith the Lord God.
Ezek. xiv. 23.

Joy is the lesson set for some,
For others pain best teacher is;
We know not which for us shall come.
But both are Heaven’s high ministries.
Susan Coolidge.

THE outward features of our life may not be all that we should choose them to be; there may be things we wish for that never come to us ; there may be much we wish away that we cannot part from. The persons with whom we live, the circumstances by which we are surrounded, the duties we have to perform, the burdens we have to bear, may not only be other than what we should have selected for ourselves, but may even seem inconsistent with that formation and discipline of character which we honestly wish to promote. Knowing us better than we know ourselves, fully understanding how greatly we are affected by the outward events and conditions of life. He has ordered them with a view to our entire and final, not only our immediate, happiness; and whenever we can be safely trusted with pastures that are green, and waters that are still, in the way of earthly blessing, the Good Shepherd leads us there.
Anthony W. Thorold