Blest are the souls that thirst for grace,
Hunger and long for righteousness;
They shall be well supplied and fed
With living streams and living bread.
Blest are the men whose feelings move
And melt with sympathy and love;
From Christ the Lord shall they obtain
Like sympathy and love again.
Blest are the pure, whose hearts are clean
From the defiling power of sin;
With endless pleasure they shall see
A God of spotless purity.
Blest are the men of peaceful life,
Who quench the flames of growing strife;
They shall be called the heirs of bliss,
The sons of God, the God of
Blest are the sufferers who partake
Of pain and shame for Jesus' sake;
Their souls shall triumph in the Lord,
Glory and joy are their reward.
OUR Father, who dost dwell above,
May we find rest in thy dear love,
And sanctify in heart thy name:
Where else shall sinner hide his shame,
When rising and departing sun
But numbers duties left undone,
And nearer brings th' eternal throne!
May we, advancing that to meet,
Feel daily more beneath our feet
The better strength which doth the will,
And seeth thee, and so is still ;
And borne on thy sustaining arm,
Which daily feeds and keeps from harm,
The wrath of man by love disarm.
The sole assurance that we live,
Is that we others thus forgive;
And day and night, where shall we flee
The wily tempter, but to thee?
Dim shadows range this earthly cell,
The kingdom and the glory dwell
With thee, alone unchangeable.
Rev. Isaac Williams.
The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God."-Rom. viii. 19.
I WOULD not enter on my list of friends
(Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarned,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight,
And charged perhaps with venom, that intrudes,
A visitor unwelcome, into scenes
Sacred to neatness and repose, the alcove,
The chamber, or refectory, may die :
A necessary act incurs no blame.
Not so when, held within their proper bounds,
And guiltless of offence, they range the air,
Or take their pastime in the spacious field;
There they are privileged: and he that hunts
Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong,
Disturbs the economy of Nature's realm,
Who, when she formed, designed them an abode.
The sum is this: If man's convenience, health,
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
Else they are all-the meanest things that are,
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,
As God was free to form them at the first,
Who in His sovereign wisdom made them all.
Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons
To love it too. The springtime of our years
Is soon dishonoured and defiled in most
By budding ills that ask a prudent hand
To check them. But, alas! none sooner shoots,
If unrestrained, into luxuriant growth
Than cruelty, most devilish of them all.
Mercy to him that shows it, is the rule
And righteous limitation of its act,
By which Heaven moves in pardoning guilty man;
And he that shows none, being ripe in years,
And conscious of the outrage he commits,
Shall seek it, and not find it, in his turn.
"Eagerly desire thy work, and thou wilt be safe.
THE whole world hath gone out to buy,
Estates and goods to multiply:
The sunny field, the garden ground,
The woods that gird the city round,
The cedar hill, the ample street,
The quay where busy merchants meet;
All places and all spirits burn,
And for the world's weak treasure yearn.
Servant of Christ, be thou like these,
All day and night forego thine ease;
Crave, covet, lust, and labour still,
Till thou the Master's storehouse fill.
Be crafty at thy toil, and ply
All seasons round thy usury.
Deny thyself, and hoard thy gold
For Him who died for thee of old.
Let not thy life be soft and free,
Cushion and couch are not for thee.
Brave shining stone and raiment fair
Leave thou for kings and queens to wear.
For them let rich robes be unfurled
Who bear God's name within the world!
Thy throne, O man of God, is yet
Behind thick clouds and trials set.
Let go all mortal grief and mirth;
And, as the world is wise for earth,
To thee like wisdom shall be given
To covet still and hoard for heaven.
Empty on priests and heathen lands
And widows pale thy willing hands;
While prince and peer of old names dream,
Let alms thy sin-pledged soul redeem.
Wide, churchman, is thy mother's field,
A hundredfold her valleys yield.
Hoard, and then waste: oh! scatter round
Thy seed in faith upon the ground.
When men are deep in feast and mirth,
Steal out and bury gold in earth,
Then back into the world and ply
Once more thy hard trade cheerily.
NOTE.-Hermas, a disciple of St. Paul, mentioned Rom. xvi. 14, who wrote a book called the "Shepherd" or "Pastor."
"Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day."--Eph. vi. 13.
PUT from us, O Lord, we pray,
Of darkness the unfruitful deeds,
And keep us safely in the way
That to thy holy presence leads.
Each one of us has duly sworn,
Against our Master's foe to fight,
Beneath the Cross's banner, borne
By Him who darkness changed to light.
He that right manfully would stand,
The devil, world, and flesh to quell,
Keeps anxious watch on either hand,
In his Lord's armour fenced well.
The shield of faith is o'er him spread,
To guard from Satan's fiery dart,
Salvation's helmet keeps his head,
And righteousness protects his heart.
The girdle of his loins is truth,
His sword the piercing word of God;
He thus sets forth in earnest youth
The way God's saints before have trod.
And he proceeds from strength to strength,
Forgetting all the trials past;
His eyes still fixed where he at length
May hope eternal rest at last.
"SOLDIERS, who to Christ belong,
In your burnished faith be strong,
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