the
rule of your aunt. Are you willing His will should be done, and as long
as He pleases?"

Matilda looked in her friend's face, but it put the question steadily;
and she faltered and burst into tears.

"That is a great question, Tilly," said the minister, kindly. "Is it
yourself you want to please? or the Lord Jesus? He can have these
outside things done by other people, even if you cannot help in them;
but of _you_ the first thing He wants is an obedient child. Will you be
obedient? That is, will you agree to His will?"

"Mr. Richmond--must I be _willing_ to do nothing?" Matilda asked
without uncovering her face.

"If the Lord bids you do nothing."

"But I thought--He bade me--do so many things?"

"So He does; and just now the very first and foremost of them is, that
you should be content with His will."

The daylight had faded sensibly when the next words were spoken, so
many seconds went by before Matilda was ready to speak them.

"Mr. Richmond," she said, after that pause of hidden struggle, "isn't
it very hard?"

"It depends upon how much any one loves the Lord, my dear child. The
more you love Him, the less you want your own will. But you were never
more mistaken in your life, than just now, when you thought He had
taken all your opportunities away."

"Why, what opportunities have I, Mr. Richmond?" said Matilda, lifting
up her face.

"This, for one. Opportunity to be obedient. The Bible says that Christ,
coming here to stand in our place and save us, learned obedience by the
things which He _suffered;_ and I don't know but we must, too."

Matilda looked very hard at her adviser; it was not easy for her to get
at this new thought.

"Cannot you as truly obey, when God says you must be still, as when He
says you must work?"

"Yes, sir."

"And in either case, obedience is in the heart--not in the fingers or
the tongue. Isn't it so?"

"Yes, sir."

"You see one opportunity, Matilda."

"Yes, sir." The answers were very meek.

"My dear child, is that the only one?"

"I cannot go out, Mr. Richmond."

"No, I understand. But in the house. Have you no opportunities to be
patient, for instance?"

"Yes, sir!" and a faint colour rose in Matilda's cheek.

"My child, patience is something that, when God's children show, they
always honour Him."

"How, Mr. Richmond?"

"It shows His grace and power in them; for they cannot be truly patient
without His help. And then others see it and acknowledg