a 1 4. ABIDING IN CHRIST. Prayer for Christ's One half hath not been told me presence. Of all Thy power and grace ; That mystic word of Thine, O sovereign Lord, Thy beauty, Lord, and glory, Is all too pure, too high, too deep for me; The wonders of Thy love, Shall be the endless story Of all Thy saints above. 6. ABILITIES. Development of From this good hour, O, leave me nevermore ! Call now to mind what high capacious powers Then shall the discord cease, the wound be heal'd, Lie folded up in man; how far beyond The life-long bleeding of the soul be o'er. The praise of mortals may the eternal growth Of Nature, to perfection half Divine, Should sloth's unkindly fogs depress to earth Her tender blossom, choke the streams of life, As some rare perfume in a vase of clay And blast her spring! Far otherwise design'd Pervades it with a fragrance not its own, Almighty wisdom ; Nature's happy cares ; So, when Thou dwellest in a mortal soul, The obedient heart far otherwise incline. All heaven's own sweetness seems around it thrown. Witness the sprightly joy when aught unknown Strikes the quick sense, and wakes each active power The soul alone, like a neglected harp, To brisker measures : witness the neglect Grows out of tune, and needs that Hand Divine : Of all familiar prospects, though beheld Dwell Thou within it, tune and touch the chords, With transport once ; the fond attentive gaze Till every note and string shall answer Thine. Of young astonishment; the sober zeal Abide in me : there have been moments blest, Of age, commenting on prodigious things ; For such the bounteous providence of Heaven, Of objects new and strange, to urge us on With unremitting labour to pursue These were but seasons, beautiful and rare ; Those sacred stores that wait the ripening soul, In Truth's exhaustless bosom.-Mark Akenside. 7. ABILITIES. Difference of ALAS! what differs more than man from man? 5. ABIDING IN CHRIST: our only safety. And whence this difference?--whence but from himO LAMB of God ! still keep me self? Near to Thy wounded side ; For, see the universal race endow'd With the same upright form! The sun is fix’d, And the infinite magnificence of heaven, Within the reach of every human eye : The sleepless ocean murmurs in all ears; The vernal field infuses fresh delight Into all hearts. Throughout the world of sense, Even as an object is sublime or fair, That object is laid open to the view Without reserve or veil ; and as a power Is salutary, or its influence sweet, Are each and all enabled to perceive That power, that influence, by impartial law. Gifts nobler are vouchsafed alike to all ; Reason,-and, with that reason, smiles and tears ; Imagination, freedom of the will, Conscience to guide and check ; and death To be foretasted-immortality presumed. And worship now the God who rules Helen Hunt, from the Koran.' 9. ABRAHAM. The Sacrifice of a Strange then, nor less than monstrous, might be deem'd The failure, if the Almighty, to this point Liberal and undistinguishing, should hide The excellence of moral qualities From common understanding; leaving truth And virtue, difficult, abstruse, and dark ; Hard to be won, and only by a few : Strange, should He deal herein with nice respects, And frustrate all the rest! Believe it not : The primal duties shine aloft like stars ; The charities, that soothe, and heal, and bless, Are scatter'd at the feet of man, like flowers. The generous inclination, the just rule, Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughtsNo mystery is here; no special boon For high and not for low-for proudly graced And not for meek in heart.— Wordsworth. ܪ It was noonAnd Abraham on Moriah bow'd himself And buried up his face and pray'd for strength. He could not look upon his son, and pray ; But with his hand upon the clustering curls Of the fair, kneeling boy he pray'd that God Would nerve him for that hour. He rose up and laid The wood upon the altar. All was done. He stood a moment-and a deep, quick flash Pass'd o'er his countenance; and then he nerved His spirit with a bitter strength and spoke : • Isaac ! my only son!'-The boy look'd up : Where is the lamb, my father?' Oh the tones, The sweet, familiar voice of a loved child !What would its music seem at such an hour ! It was the last deep struggle. Abraham held His loved, his beautiful, his only son, And lifted up his arms and callid on GodAnd lo! God's angel stay'd him-and he fell Upon his face and wept. Nathaniel Parker Willis. 8. ABRAHAM. A Legend of 6 10. ABSENCE. Effects of At night, upon the silent plain, All flowers will droop in absence of the sun 11. ABSENCE. Improvement of What shall I do with all the days and hours That must be counted ere I see thy face? How shall I charm the interval that lowers Between this time and that sweet time of grace ? Shall I in slumber steep each weary sense, Weary with longing ? Shall I flee away Into past days, and with some fond pretence Cheat myself to forget the present day? Then came, unheralded, the dawn, Shall love for thee lay on my soul the sin Of casting from me God's great gift of time? Shall I, these mists of memory lock'd within, Leave and forget life's purposes sublime ? Oh, how or by what means may I contrive To bring the hour that brings thee back more near? How may I teach my drooping hope to live Until that blessed time, and thou art here? I see not a step before me as I tread the days of the 22. ACTION. Appointment of year, What are we set on earth for? Say, to toil But the past is still in God's keeping, the future His Nor seek to leave thy tending of the vines, mercy shall clear, For all the heat o' day, till it declines, And what looks dark in the distance, may brighten And Death's mild curfew shall from work assoil. as I draw near. God did anoint thee with His odorous oil, To wrestle, not to reign ; and He assigns For perhaps the dreaded future has less bitterness All thy tears over, like pure crystallines, than I think, For younger fellow-workers of the soil The Lord may sweeten the water before I stoop to To wear for amulets. So others shall drink. Or, if Marah must be Marah, He will stand beside Take patience, labour, to their heart and hand, From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer, its brink, And God's grace fructify through thee to all. It may be there is waiting for the coming of my feet, The least flower, with a brimming cup, may stand Some gift of such rare blessedness, some joy so And share its dew-drop with another near. strangely sweet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning: That my lips can only tremble with the thanks I cannot speak. 23. ACTION. Call to DARE to do right! dare to be true ! O restful, blissful ignorance ! 'Tis blessed not to You have a work that no other can do ; know, Do it so bravely, so kindly, so well, It keeps me quiet in those arms which will not let Angels will hasten the story to tell. me go, And hushes my soul to rest on the bosom which Dare to do right! dare to be true ! loves me so. Other men's failures can never save you. So I go on not knowing. I would not if I might; Stand by your conscience, your honour, your faith; Stand like a hero and battle till death. I would rather walk on in the dark with God, than go alone in the light; Dare to do right! dare to be true ! I would rather walk with Him by faith than walk Cannot Omnipotence carry you through ? alone by sight. City and mansion and throne all in sight, My heart shrinks back from trials which the future Can you not dare to be true and be right? may disclose, Dare to do right! dare to be true ! Yet I never had a sorrow but what the dear Lord Keep the great judgment-seat always in view; chose ; So I send the coming tears back, with the whisper'd Scann'd by Jehovah and angels and men. Look at your work as you'll look at it then, word 'He knows.' Dare to do right I dare to be true ! 21. ACQUIESCENCE. Entire Prayerfully, lovingly, firmly pursue The path by apostles and martyrs once trod, The path of the just to the city of God. George Lansing Taylor. 24. ACTION. Duty of Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real ! Life is earnest ! And the grave is not its goal ; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. Rushing godless into battle, Single-handed in the strife. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. Art is long and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. In the bivouac of Life, Be a hero in the strise ! Lives of good men all remind us God can make our lives sublime : Otherwise we leave behind us Wrecks upon the sands of time. Wrecks !-not trophies—mark, my brotherWaifs too often seen in vain-Burning beacons, which to smother Is to earn the curse of Cain. Men may work and wait for ever, Toiling early, toiling late ; May be earnest, patient, clever, And, like stoics, dare their fate. But if here we have our portion, If our glory we pursue, Every scheme is an abortion, Dry rot lurks in all we do.-7. Mackay, B.D. 25. ACTION. End of Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant ! Let the dead Past bury its dead ! Act-act in the living Present ! Heart within, and God o'erhead ! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time ;Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwreck'd brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labour and to wait. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Go, silly worm, drudge, trudge, and travel, Despising pain, so thou may'st gain With sudden call takes thee from all, Foshua Sylvester. a 26. ACTION. God's Favour of |
