'GOD IS LOVE.'

1 John 4: 8.

I CANNOT always trace the way
Where thou, Almighty One, dost move;
But I can always, always say,

That God is love.

When fear her chilling mantle flings
O'er earth, my soul to heaven above,
As to her sanctuary, springs,

For God is love.

When mystery clouds my darkened path,
I'll check my dread, my doubts reprove;
In this my soul sweet comfort hath,
That God is love.

The entanglement which restless thought,
Mistrust, and idle reasoning wove,
Are thus unravelled and unwrought,
For God is love.

Yes, God is love, a thought like this

Can.every gloomy thought remove, And turn all tears, all woes, to bliss, For God is love.

PILGRIM! IS THY JOURNEY DREAR?

Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!
Psalm 27: 9.

PILGRIM is thy journey drear?
Are its lights extinct forever?
Still suppress the rising fear,-
God forsakes the righteous, never!

Storms may gather o'er thy path,
All the ties of life may sever;
Still, amid the fear and death,

God forsakes the righteous, never!

Pain may rack thy wasting frame, Health desert thy couch forever, Faith still burns with deathless flame, God forsakes the righteous, never!

HE WHOM CHRIST LOVES.

Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. -John 11:3. SAVIOUR! I can welcome sickness, If these words be said of me; Can rejoice, 'midst pain and weakness, If I am but loved by thee;

Love so precious,

Balm for every wound will be.

Thou, who waitest not for fitness
In the souls thy blood has saved,
Let thy Spirit now bear witness,
He this sentence has engraved, -
Love so precious,

Gives me all my prayers have craved.

Though that love send days of sadness,
In a life so brief as this,

It

prepares me days of gladness,
And a life of perfect bliss;

Love so precious,

Bids me every fear dismiss.

PLEADING FOR MERCY.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord heal me, for

IN mercy, not in wrath, rebuke

Thy feeble worm, my God!
My spirit dreads thine angry look,
And trembles at thy rod.

Have mercy, Lord, for I am weak,
Regard my heavy groans;

O let thy voice of comfort speak;
And heal my broken bones!

By day, my busy, beating head
Is filled with anxious fears;

By night, upon my restless bed,
I weep a flood of tears.

Thus I sit desolate and mourn,

Mine eyes grow

dull with grief;

How long, my Lord, ere thou return, And bring my soul relief?

MERCY SUPPLICATED.

O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger.- Psalm 6: 1.

GENTLY, gently, lay thy rod

On my sinful head, O God!
Stay thy wrath, in mercy stay,
Lest I sink before its sway.

Heal me, for my flesh is weak;
Heal me, for thy grace I seek;
This, my only plea, I make,-
Heal me, for thy mercy's sake.

Who, within the silent grave,
Shall proclaim thy power to save?
Lord, my sinking soul reprieve;
Speak! and I shall rise and live.

Lo! he comes! he heeds my plea!
Lo! he comes! the shadows flee!
Glory round me dawns once more,
Rise, my spirit, and adore!

THANKFUL AND UNTHANKFUL.

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..

·Proverbs 23: 7.

SOME murmur when their sky is clear,

And wholly bright to view,

If one small speck of dark appear
In their great heaven of blue :
And some with thankful love are filled,
If but one streak of light,

One ray of God's good mercy, gild
The darkness of their night.

In palaces are hearts that ask,
In discontent and pride,
Why life is such a dreary task,
And all good things denied:
And hearts in poorest huts admire
How love has in their aid,

(Love, that not ever seems to tire,)
Such rich provision made.