yes humbly and faithfully upon the best, and seek
to be worthy of it. We must try not to be self-sufficient, but to be
humble and yet diligent.

I do not think that we practise this simple resignation often enough;
it is astonishing how the act of placing our own will as far as
possible in unison with the Will of God restores our tranquillity.

It was only a short time ago that I was walking alone among fields and
villages. It was one of those languid days of early spring, when the
frame and the mind alike seem unstrung and listless. The orchards were
white with flower, and the hedges were breaking into fresh green. I had
just returned to my work after a brief and delightful holiday, and was
overshadowed with the vague depression that the resumption of work
tends to bring to anxious minds. I entered a little ancient church that
stood open; it was full of sunlight, and had been tenderly decked with
an abundance of spring flowers. If I had been glad at heart it would
have seemed a sweet place, full of peace and beautiful mysteries. But
it had no voice, no message for me. I was overshadowed too by a sad
anxiety about one whom I loved, who was acting perversely and
unworthily. There came into my mind a sudden gracious thought to commit
myself to the heart of God, not to disguise my weakness and anxiety,
not to ask that the load should be lightened, but that I might endure
His will to the uttermost.

In a moment came the strength I sought; no lightening of the load, but
a deeper serenity, a desire to bear it faithfully. The very fragrance
of the flowers seemed to mingle like a sweet incense with my vow. The
old walls whispered of patience and hope. I do not know where the peace
that then settled upon me came from, but not, it seemed, out of the
slender resources of my own vexed spirit.

But after all, the wonder is, in this mysterious world, not that there
is so much egotism abroad, but that there is so little! Considering the
narrow space, the little cage of bones and skin, in which our spirit is
confined, like a fluttering bird, it often astonished me to find how
much of how many people's thoughts is not given to themselves, but to
their work, their friends, their families.

The simplest and most practical cure for egotism, after all, is
resolutely to suppress public manifestations of it; and it is best to
overcome it as a matter of good manners, rather than as a matter of
religious principle. One does not want people