More careful,

not to serve Thee much,

But to please Thee perfectly.

There are briers besetting every path,

That call for patient care;

There is a cross in every lot,

And an earnest need for prayer;

But a lowly heart that leans on Thee
Is happy anywhere.

In a service which Thy will appoints,
There are no bonds for me;

For my inmost heart is taught “the truth”
That makes Thy children "free;'

And a life of self-renouncing love

Is a life of liberty.

A. L. WARING.

FROM "MY SOUL AND I."

K

NOW well, my soul, God's hand controls

Whate'er thou fearest;

Round Him in calmest music rolls

Whate'er thou hearest.

What to thee is shadow, to Him is day,
And the end He knoweth,

And not on a blind and aimless way
The spirit goeth.

Like warp and woof all destinies

Are woven fast,

Linked in sympathy like the keys

Of an organ vast.

Pluck one thread, and the web ye mar;
Break but one

Of a thousand keys, and the paining jar
Through all will run.

Oh, restless spirit! wherefore strain
Beyond thy sphere? -

Heaven and hell, with their joy and pain,
Are now and here.

Back to thyself is measured well
All thou hast given;

Thy neighbor's wrong is thy present hell,
His bliss, thy heaven.

And in life, in death, in dark and light,

All are in God's care;

Sound the black abyss, pierce the deep of night, And He is there.

Leaning on Him, make with reverent meekness His own thy will,

And with strength from Him shall thy utter weakness

Life's task fulfil.

J. G. WHITTier.

THE STRAIGHT ROAD.

BEAUTY may be the path to highest good,

And some successfully have it pursued.

Thou, who wouldst follow, be well warned to see
That way prove not a curvèd road to thee.

The straightest way perhaps which may be sought
Lies through the great highway men call I ought.

DISCIPLES' HYMN-BOOK.

SEMITA JUSTORUM.

WHEN I look back upon my former race,

Seasons I see at which the Inward Ray

More brightly burned, or guided some new way; Truth, in its wealthier scene and nobler space, Given for my eye to range, and feet to trace. And next, I mark, 'twas trial did convey, Or grief, or pain, or strange eventful day, To my tormented soul such larger grace. So now, whene’er, in journeying on, I feel The shadow of the Providential Hand, Deep breathless stirrings shoot across my breast, Searching to know what He will now reveal, What sin uncloak, what stricter rule command, And girding me to work His full behest.

JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, 1833.

I

BEAUTY AND DUTY.

SLEPT, and dreamed that life was beauty;
I woke, and found that life was duty.
Was my dream, then, a shadowy lie?
Toil on, sad heart, courageously;
And thou shalt find thy dream shall be

A noon-day light and truth to thee.

SONNET.

DISCIPLES HYMN-BOOK.

HEN I consider how my light is spent,

WHE

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask; but Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best; his state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."

JOHN MILTON,

THE RIGHT MUST WIN.

OH, it is hard to work for God,

To rise and take His part

Upon this battle-field of earth,
And not sometimes lose heart!

He hides Himself so wondrously,
As though there were no God;
He is least seen when all the powers
Of ill are most abroad.

Or He deserts us at the hour
The fight is all but lost;

And seems to leave us to ourselves
Just when we need Him most.

Ill masters good, good seems to change
To ill with greatest ease;

And, worst of all, the good with good

Is at cross purposes.

Ah! God is other than we think;
His ways are far above,

Far beyond reason's height, and reached
Only by childlike love.

Workman of God! oh, lose not heart,

But learn what God is like;

And in the darkest battle-field

Thou shalt know where to strike.