Be to me Rest. Take from me the fear of death. Give Thy Spirit to guide, to cleanse, to enliven. Raise my heart towards Thy glory.

Blessed Jesus, hear my prayers. By Thy cross and passion,-by Thine agony and bloody sweat,-by Thy precious death and burial,-Good Lord, deliver me!

Yea, O merciful Saviour! bless me with a spirit of praise. Deliver me from fear and doubt. Make me to rejoice in a sense of Thy love. In life and in death, be Thou with me, for Thy name's sake. Amen.

How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds

In a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest.

Нутп.

Jesus, my Saviour, Shepherd, Friend,-
My Prophet, Priest and King;

My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,-
Accept the praise I bring!

Weak is the effort of my heart,

And cold my warmest thought; But when I see Thee as Thou art, I'll praise Thee as I ought.

Till then Thy love I would proclaim
With every fleeting breath;

And may the music of Thy Name
Refresh my soul in death.

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Fatherly Chastisement.

My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? -HEB. xii. 5-7.

My sickness is to me chastening from God. I must neither despise His correction, nor, on the other hand, faint. As a wise man sometimes punishes his little child, and makes him suffer, for his good,-so Almighty God sends pain, sorrow, and other trials; dealing lovingly and in wisdom with us, as sons. He corrects us by taking away earthly comforts, causing us to pass through poverty, with its many troubles. Painful

Fatherly Chastisement.

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indeed is it to endure chastening; difficult, very hard is it, most especially for the poor man, to live truly patient in sickness,-neither despising nor fainting. The merciful God knows how I am tempted, and yet He does still afflict me.

I am tempted to despise, to murmur at, to think wickedly of, this affliction. Why am I thus tried? This is the secret whispering of my sinful heart: this is the temptation. And because my faith is weak, I murmur: not openly rebelling, yet do I ask, "Why thus afflicted?" I am too eager to get well. My real praying is for health, rather than for the blessings of sickness. Strength, work, busy activity, freedom from pain and temptation,-these I cry for and like a petted, fretful child, I want my own way,- -seek to please myself,—chafe against the controlling of another's will. The rod of correction,-how to be free from?

Subtle also is the temptation to think I could do more for God in good health. Why am I thus laid aside? And may not affliction prove to me a curse, instead of a

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Fatherly Chastisement.

blessing? If weakness of body and manifold infirmities make me, in spite of myself as it were, impatient and restless,

Must I be smitten, Lord?

Are gentler measures vain?
Will yet Thou smite, O Lord?
Can nothing save but pain?

Oh that by the help of the Almighty I may overcome these temptations! Oh to get the mastery over doubtings and restless strivings. And this is the victory,—even faith in the Fatherly comfort: whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. True and precious words of peace! Light in the darkness; strength made perfect in weakness. God is chastening me for my profit. My son, faint not when thou art rebuked.

Oh that I may hear this voice of my Father! In suffering, in weakness, in every trial, may I feel that God is guiding me. So, when anything is taken from me or laid upon me, He will help me to say,Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight. And this is peace, to feel that