And when the Father chasteneth,
His children's faith to prove,
The cord is held by Jesus-
The unseen end is love.

Love-deep, divine, unsearchable-
Love is the binding cord,
And, hid beneath the chastening,
Twines round the saints of God.

ACQUAINT THYSELF WITH GOD. ACQUAINT thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste His works. Admitted once to His embrace, Thou shalt perceive that thou wast blind before : Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart, Made pure, shalt relish, with divine delight Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought.

COWPER.

SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER.

SWEET hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

That calls me from a world of care,

And bids me at my Father's throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter's snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear

To Him, whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless :
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His word, and trust His grace,
I'll cast on Him my every care,

And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,

Till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height
I view my home, and take my flight :
This robe of flesh I'll drop, and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;

And sing, while passing through the air,
Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!

From Sacred Songs.

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE.

LOVE thou the truth,

And speak the truth in love:
The wisdom pure and peaceable
Descendeth from above.

Hate thou the lie ;

Yet without bitterness

Thy hatred of its evil speak,
Only to teach and bless.

Let not the stain

Of angry human breath
The heavenly mirror soil or dim,
Disturbing peace and faith.

All violence

Of soul, or pen, or tongue,

Not strength nor greatness is at all,
But feebleness and wrong.

Overbear none;

Trust not in sword or rod;

Man's feverish wrath commendeth not

The tranquil truth of God.

The error hate,

But love the erring one :

God's love it was that brought thee back

When thou astray wert gone.

Buy thou the truth,

And sell it not again :

Count thou no price too great for it;

Part with it for no gain.

All truth is calm,

Refuge and rock and tower:

The more of truth, the more of calm;
Its calmness is its power.

Truth is not strife,

Nor is to strife allied;

It is the error that is bred

Of storm, by rage and pride.

Calmness is truth,

And truth is calmness still :

Truth lifts its forehead to the storm,
Like some eternal hill.

BONAR.

THE BRIGHT LIGHT THAT IS IN THE CLOUDS.

DESPAIR not in the vale of woe

Where many joys from suffering flow.

Oft breathes simoom, and close behind
A breath of God doth softly blow.
Clouds threaten-but a ray of light,
And not of lightning, falls below.

How many winters o'er thy head
Have past-yet bald it does not show!

Thy branches are not bare, and yet
What storms have shook them to and fro !

To thee has time brought many joys,
If many it has bid to go;

And seasoned has with bitterness
Thy cup, that flat it should not grow.

Trust in that veilèd hand, which leads
None by the path that he would go,

And always be for change prepared,
For the world's law is ebb and flow.

Stand fast in suffering, until He
Who called it, shall dismiss also ;
And from that Lord all good expect,
Who many mercies strews below;
Who in life's narrow garden-strip
Has bid delights unnumbered blow.

ARCHBISHOP TRENCH.

PRAYER OF THE BEREAVED.

SAVIOUR, whose crowned humanity
Still stoops to wipe the tearful eye,
Unto whose ear the voiceless sigh

Pleads not in vain.

Thou who the broken heart hath healed,
Look on the woe to Thee revealed,
The burning fount of tears unsealed

This bitter pain.

If blindly on a mortal head,
With lavish hand I fondly shed
Gifts on Thy shrine more fitly laid,
Saviour, forgive!

With earthly love compelled to part,
Stricken by sorrow's keenest dart,
Have mercy on this wounded heart,
And healing give.

If mortal accents all too dear

With their deep music filled mine ear,

So that Thy voice I failed to hear,

O Christ, forgive!