XVIII. THE COMPLAINTS OF THE POOR.

"THERE is one's trade and one's family, and beyond it seems as if the great demon of worldly-mindedness would hardly allow one to bestow a thought or care.' ."-Arnold.

AND wherefore do the poor complain?

The rich man asked of me,

Come, walk abroad with me, I said,
And I will answer thee.

'Twas evening, and the frozen streets
Were cheerless to behold;

And we were wrapt and coated well,
And yet we were a-cold.

We met an old bareheaded man,

His locks were few and white;
I asked him what he did abroad
In that cold winter's night.
'Twas bitter keen, indeed, he said,
But at home no fire had he,'
And therefore he had come abroad
To ask for charity.

We met a young barefooted child,
And she begg'd loud and bold;
I asked her what she did abroad,
When the wind it blew so cold.
She said her father was at home,
And he lay sick in bed;

And therefore was it she was sent
Abroad to beg for bread.

We saw a woman sitting down
Upon a stone to rest;
She had a baby at her back,

And another at her breast.

I asked her why she loitered there,
When the wind it was so chill;-
She turn❜d her head, and bade the child
That scream'd behind be still.

She told us that her husband served
A soldier far away;

And therefore to her parish she

Was begging back her way.

"THOU turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth."-Psalm xc. 3-6.

I WALKED the fields at morning's prime,
The grass was ripe for mowing;
The skylark sang his matin chime,
And all was brightly glowing.

"And thus," I cried, "the ardent boy,
His pulse with rapture beating,
Deems life's inheritance is joy-
The future proudly greeting."

I wandered forth at noon :-Alas!
On earth's maternal bosom

The scythe had left the withering grass,
And stretched the fading blossom

And thus, I thought with many a sigh,
The hopes we fondly cherish,

Like flowers which blossom but to die,
Seem only born to perish.

Once more, at eve, abroad I strayed,
Through lonely hay-fields musing,
While every breeze that round me played
Rich fragrance was diffusing.

The perfumed air, the hush of eve,
To purer hopes appealing,

O'er thoughts perchance too prone to grieve,
Scattered the balm of healing.

For thus "the actions of the just,"
When memory hath enshrined them,

E'en from the dark and silent dust

Their odour leave behind them.

BERNARD BARTON.

XX. THOU, GOD, SEEST ME.;

"WHITHER shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."-Psalm cxxxix. 7-13.

AMONG the deepest shades of night

Can there be one who sees my way?

Yes; God is like a shining light,
That turns the darkness into day.
When every eye around me sleeps,
May I not sin without control?
No! for a constant watch he keeps,
On every thought of every soul.
If I could find some cave unknown,
Where human feet have never trod,
Yet there I could not be alone;

On every side there would be God.

He smiles in heaven; He frowns in hell;
He fills the air, the earth, the sea;
I must within His presence dwell;
I cannot from His anger flee.

Yet I may flee, He shows me where ;
Tells me to Jesus Christ to fly;
And while He sees me weeping there,
There's only mercy in His eye.

MRS. GILBERT.

UNIVERSAL PRAYER.

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XXI. UNIVERSAL PRAYER.

"OUR Father, which art in Heaven; hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen."-Matt. vi. 9-13.

"When Abraham sat at his tent door, according to his custom, waiting to entertain strangers, he espied an old man stooping and leaning on his staff, weary with age and travel, coming towards him, who was a hundred years of age. He received him kindly, washed his feet, provided supper, caused him to sit down; but observing that the old man eat, and prayed not, nor begged for a blessing on his meat, he asked him why he did not worship the God of heaven. The old man told him that he worshipped the fire only, and acknowledged no other God. At which answer Abraham grew so zealously angry that he thrust the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of the night, and an unguarded condition. When the old man was gone, God called to Abraham, and asked him where the stranger was. replied, I thrust him away because he did not worship thee.' God answered him, I have suffered him these hundred years, although he dishonoured me; and couldst not thou endure him one night?'"Jeremy Taylor.

FATHER of all! in every age,

In every clime adored,

By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!

Thou Great First Cause, least understood;
Who all my sense confined

To know but this-that thou art good,
And that myself am blind;

Yet gave me, in this dark estate,
To see the good from ill;
And, binding nature fast in fate,
Left free the human will:

What conscience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do,

This,' teach me more than hell to shun,
That, more than heaven pursue.

What blessings thy free bounty gives

Let me not cast away;

For God is paid when man receives,
To enjoy is to obey.

He

Yet not to earth's contracted span
Thy goodness let me bound,
Or think thee Lord alone of man,
When thousand worlds are round:

Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Presume thy bolts to throw,
And deal damnation round the land,
On each I judge thy foe.

If I am right, thy grace impart,
Still in the right to stay:
If I am wrong, oh teach my heart
To find that better way!2

Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious discontent,

At aught thy wisdom has denied,
Or aught thy goodness lent.

Teach me to feel another's wo,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.

Mean though I am, not wholly so,
Since quickened by thy breath;
Oh lead me wheresoe'er I go,

Through this day's life or death.

This day be bread and peace my lot:
All else beneath the sun,
Thou knowest if best bestowed or not,
And let thy will be done.

To thee, whose temple is all space,
Whose altar, earth, sea, skies!
One chorus let all beings raise !
All nature's incense rise!

1. This refers to the nearest or lastmentioned thing, that to the more

remote.

2. "A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which

POPE.

is but saying in other words, that he is wiser to day than he was yesterday."— Pope.

3. Meaning of quickened?