When I am feeble as a child,
And flesh and heart give way,
Then on Thy everlasting strength,
With passive trust I stay,
And the rough wind becomes a song,
The darkness shines like day.
No suffering while it lasts is joy,
How blest soe'er it be
Yet may the chastened child be glad
His Father's face to see;
And, oh, it is not hard to bear,
What must be borne in Thee.
Safe in Thy sanctifying grace,
Almighty to restore
Borne onward- - sin and death behind,
And love and life before—
Oh, let my soul abound in hope,
And praise Thee more and more!
Deep unto deep may call, but I
With peaceful heart will say -
Thy loving-kindness hath a charge
No waves can take away;
And let the storm that speeds me home,
Deal with me as it may.
JOY AFTER SORROW.
COMET
OMETH sunshine after rain,
After mourning, joy again,
After heavy bitter grief
Dawneth surely sweet relief;
And my soul, who from her height
Sank to realms of woe and night,
Wingeth now to heaven her flight.
None was ever left a prey,
None was ever turned away,
Who had given himself to God,
And on Him had cast his load.
Who in God his hope hath placed
Shall not life in pain outwaste,
Fullest joy he yet shall taste.
Though to-day may not fulfil
All thy hopes, have patience still,
For perchance to-morrow's sun
Sees thy happier days begun ;
As God willeth, march the hours,
Bringing joy at last in showers,
When whate'er we asked is ours.
Every sorrow, every smart,
That the Eternal Father's heart
Hath appointed me of yore,
Or hath yet for me in store,
As my life flows on, I'll take
Calmly, gladly, for His sake,
No more faithless murmurs make.
I will meet distress and pain,
I will greet e'en Death's dark reign,
I will lay me in the grave,
With a heart still glad and brave;
Whom the Strongest doth defend,
Whom the Highest counts His friend,
Cannot perish in the end.
PAUL GERHARDT, 1606-1676.
“I, even I, am He that comforteth you.”—ISA. ii. 12.
SWEE
WEET is the solace of Thy love,
My Heavenly Friend, to me,
While through the hidden way of faith
I journey home with Thee,
Learning by quiet thankfulness
As a dear child to be.
Though from the shadow of Thy peace
My feet would often stray,
Thy mercy follows all my steps,
And will not turn away;
Yea, Thou wilt comfort me at last,
As none beneath Thee may.
Oft in a dark and lonely place,
I hush my hastened breath,
To hear the comfortable words
Thy loving Spirit saith:
And feel my safety in Thy hand
From every kind of death.
O there is nothing in the world
To weigh against Thy will;
Even the dark times I dread the most
Thy covenant fulfil;
And when the pleasant morning dawns
I find Thee with me still.
Then in the secret of my soul,
Though hosts my peace invade,
Though through a waste and weary land
My lonely way be made,
Thou, even Thou, wilt comfort me
I need not be afraid.
Still in the solitary place
I would awhile abide,
Till with the solace of Thy love
My heart is satisfied;
And all my hopes of happiness
Stay calmly at Thy side.
Mot
́OURNER, that dost deserve thy mournfulness, Call thyself punished, call the earth thy hell; Say, "God is angry, and I earned it well;
I would not have Him smile and not redress."
Say this, and straightway all thy grief grows less.
"God rules at least, I find, as prophets tell,
And proves it in this prison." Straight thy cell
Smiles with an unsuspected loveliness.
"A prison, and yet from door and window-bar I catch a thousand breaths of His sweet air; Even to me, His days and nights are fair ; He shows me many a flower, and many a star; And though I mourn, and He is very far,
He does not kill the hope that reaches there."
ANON. From "Adela Cathcar
A LITTLE BIRD I AM.
Written during ten years' imprisonment in the Bastille.
LITTLE bird I am,
Shut from the fields of air;
A
And in my cage I sit and sing
To Him who placed me there;
Well pleased a prisoner to be,
Because, my God, it pleases Thee!
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