23 O LORD, I KNOW THAT IN FAITHFULNESS THOU HAST AFFLICTED ME."

FOR what shall I praise thee, my God and my King?

For what blessings the tribute of gratitude bring?

Shall I praise thee for pleasure, for health, and for ease,

For the spring of delight, and the sunshine of peace?

Shall I praise thee for flowers that bloomed on my breast,

For joys in perspective, and pleasures possessed?

For the spirits that heightened my day of delight,

And the slumbers that sat on my pillow by night?

For this should I praise! thee but, if only

for this,

I should leave half-untold the donation of

bliss:

C

I thank thee for sickness, for sorrow, for care,
For the thorns I have gathered, the anguish
I bear:

For nights of anxiety, watchings, and tears,
A present of pain, a perspective of fears;
I praise thee, I bless thee, my King and my
God,

For the good and the evil thy hand hath bestowed.

The flowers were sweet, but their fragrance is flown,

They yielded no fruits, they are withered and

gone;

The thorn it was poignant, but precious to

me,

'Twas the message of mercy,-it led me to

Thee.

ANON.

24 FRIENDS SEPARATED BY DEATH.

FRIEND after friend departs;

Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no union here of hearts,
That finds not here an end!

Were this frail world our final rest,
Living or dying none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time,
Beyond this vale of death,
There surely is some blessed clime
Where life is not a breath,
Nor life's affections transient fire,
Whose sparks fly upwards to expire.

There is a world above,

Where parting is unknown:
A whole eternity of love,
Formed for the good alone :
And faith beholds the dying here
Translated to that happier sphere!

Thus star by star declines,

Till all are passed away;

As morning high and higher shines
To pure and perfect day :

Nor sink those stars in empty night;

They hide themselves in heaven's own light.

MONTGOMERY

25

MISSIONARY HYMN.

FROM Greenland's icy mountains,
From India's coral strand,
Where Afric's sunny fountains
Roll down their golden sand;
From many an ancient river,
From many a balmy plain,
They call us to deliver

Their land from error's chain.

What though the spicy breezes
Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle,
Though every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile;

In vain, with lavish kindness,
The gifts of God are strown,
The Heathen, in his blindness,
Bows down to wood and stone.

Can we whose souls are lighted
With wisdom from on high,
Can we to man benighted
The lamp of life deny ?
Salvation! Oh, salvation!
The joyful sound proclaim,
Till each remotest nation
Has learned Messiah's name.

Waft, waft, ye winds, His story,
And you, ye waters, roll,
Till like a sea of glory

It spreads from pole to pole:
Till o'er our ransomed nature
The Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeemer, King, Creator,
In bliss returns to reign.

HEBER.

26 "COMMIT THY WAY UNTO THE LORD."-Ps. xxxvii. 5.

GIVE to the winds thy fears;

Hope, and be undismayed;

God hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears,
God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves, through clouds and storms,
He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou His time; so shall the night
Soon end in joyous day.

He everywhere hath sway,

And all things serve His might;

His every act pure blessing is,

His path unsullied light.