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I CANNOT find thee! Still on restless pinion

My spirit beats the void where thou dost dwell:

I wander lost through all thy vast dominion,

And shrink beneath thy light ineffable. I cannot find thee! E'en when most adoring

Before thy shrine I bend in lowliest prayer,

Beyond these bounds of thought my thought upsoaring

From furthest quest comes back: thou art not there.

Yet high above the limits of my seeing, And folded far within the inmost heart, And deep below the deeps of conscious being,

Thy splendor shineth: there, O God, thou art!

I cannot lose thee! Still in thee abiding, The end is clear, how wide soe'er I

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Take part with me against these doubts that rise

And seek to throne thee far in distant skies!

Take part with me against this self that dares

Assume the burden of these sins and cares!

How can I call thee who art always here,— How shall I praise thee who art still most dear,

What may I give thee save what thou hast given,

And whom but thee have I in earth or heaven?

102.

ELIZA SCUDDER.

Mother and child. Marlow, 27.
My child is lying on my knees;
The signs of heaven she reads;
My face is all the heaven she sees,
Is all the heaven she needs.

I mean her well so earnestly,
Unchanged in changing mood;
My life would go without a sigh
To bring her something good.
I also am a child, and I

Am ignorant and weak;
gaze upon the starry sky,
And then I must not speak:
For all behind the starry sky,
Behind the world so broad,
Behind men's hearts and souls doth lie
The Infinite of God.

Lo! Lord, I sit in thy wide space,
My child upon my knee;
She looketh up unto my face,
And I look up to thee.

G. MACDONALD.

2

Arr. by Dr. MASON.

103.

So far, so near. Balerma, 21.
Dundee, 22.

O THOU, in all thy might so far,
In all thy love so near,-

Beyond the range of sun and star,
And yet beside us here:-
What heart can comprehend thy name,
Or, searching, find thee out?
Who art within, a quickening Flame,
A Presence round about!

Yet though I know thee but in part,
I ask not, Lord, for more:
Enough for me to know thou art,
To love thee and adore!

O sweeter than aught else besides,
The tender mystery
That like a veil of shadow hides
The Light I may not see!

And dearer than all things I know
Is childlike faith to me,
That makes the darkest way I go
An open path to thee.

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F. L. HOSMER.

Boylston, 32.

In thine own being, thine, Not elsewhere, search for his; Not in some outer heaven and earth; Within he speaks and is.

No voice can speak his voice;
No words his essence tell;
Felt beyond feeling's conscious verge
Is he in whom we dwell.
Enough to know him here,
Far, near, within, around:-
The heavenly treasure swiftly flies
Before the touch of sound.

In silence hold thy faith,
Unspeakable, alone;

The unknown future ever lies
Hid in the God unknown.

F. T. PALGRAVE

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O, SOMETIMES comes to soul and sense
The feeling which is evidence
That very near about us lies
The realm of spirit-mysteries.
The low and dark horizon lifts,
To light the scenic terror shifts;
The breath of a diviner air
Blows down the answer of a prayer.
Then all our sorrow, pain, and doubt
A great compassion clasps about;
And law and goodness, love and force
Are wedded fast beyond divorce.
Then duty leaves to love its task,
The beggar Self forgets to ask;
We feel, as flowers the sun and dew,
The One True Life our own renew.

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Mid the lurking fears that start
When we search life's hidden springs,
Voice of God within the heart,
Waken us to braver things!

Tell us of a Force behind
All we see, Supreme and One;
Tell us of a larger Mind
Than the partial power we own.
Teach us that what now we know
To thy unknown leads the way,
As the dawn that faint and low
Prophesies the perfect day.
Wearied with the golden glare,
With the noise of outward things,
Take us to thy larger air,
To the freedom of our wings!
Soul of Nature, hidden nigh,
Shaping all this outward mask,
In the silence round our cry,
Lo, we hear thee as we ask!

F. T. Paigrav

Pe

F. W BERNER

107.

All is well.

Ward, 18.

O, YET We trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood!
We hear at times a sentinel

Who moves about from place to place,
And whispers to the worlds of space
In the deep night, that all is well.
And all is well, though faith and form
Be sundered in the night of fear;
Well roars the storm to those that hear
Thy deeper voice across the storm!
Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be;
They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they!

108. The eternal goodness.

A. TENNYSON.

St. Agnes, 31. Arlington, 19.

FIRM, in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed stake my spirit clings,—
I know that God is good!
Not mine to look where cherubim
And seraphs may not see,-
But nothing can be good in him
Which evil is in me.

The wrong that pains my soul below
I dare not throne above;

I know not of his hate,-I know
His goodness and his love.

And thou, O Lord, by whom are seen
Thy creatures as they be,
Forgive me, if too close I lean
My human heart on thee!

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Through dreary doubt, through pain and sorrow, till

The night is gone,

And with the morn those angel faces smile, Which I have loved long since, and lost

awhile.

J. H. NEWMAN.

2

GEO. HEWES

111.

Our help. Arlington, 19.
Dundee, 22.

O GOD, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home,—
Before the hills in order stood,

Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.
Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy children dwell secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And their defence is sure.

O God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Be thou our guard while life shall last,
And our eternal home!

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I. WATTS.

Manoah, 26. Balerma, 21.

THERE is an Eye that never sleeps
Beneath the wing of night;
There is an Ear that never shuts
When sink the beams of light.

There is an Arm that never tires
When human strength gives way;
There is a Love that never fails

When earthly loves decay.

That Eye unseen o'erwatcheth all;
That Arm upholds the sky;

That Ear doth hear the sparrow's call;
That Love is ever nigh.

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Anon.

Naomi, 28.

I CANNOT Walk in darkness long,—
My Light is by my side;

I cannot stumble or go wrong
While following such a guide.

He is my stay and my defence;-
How shall I fail or fall?

My helper is Omnipotence,
My ruler ruleth all!

The powers below and powers above
Are subject to his care:-

I cannot wander from his love
Who loves me everywhere.

MRS. C. A. MASON.

114. Everlasting arms. Amsterdam, 52.

SEE the Lord, thy Keeper, stand
Omnipotently near;

Lo! he holds thee by the hand
And banishes thy fear;
Shadows from the heat thy head,
Guards from all impending harms;
Round thee and beneath are spread
The everlasting arms.

God shall bless thy going out,
Shall bless thy coming in,
Kindly compass thee about

And save thee from thy sin.
He is still thy sure defence;
Thou his constant care shalt prove,
Kept by watchful Providence
And ever-waking Love.

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C. Wesley. Benneson, 44. Stockwell, 49.

GOD is Love: his mercy brightens
All the path in which we rove;
Bliss he wakes and woe he lightens;
God is wisdom, God is love.
Chance and change are busy ever;
Man decays, and ages move;

But his mercy waneth never;
God is wisdom, God is love.

Even the hour that darkest seemeth
Will his changeless goodness prove;
From the mist his brightness streameth
God is wisdom, God is love.

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WHILE thee I seek, Protecting Power,

Be my vain wishes stilled;

And may this consecrated hour

With better hopes be filled.

Thy love the powers of thought bestowed;
To thee my thoughts would soar;
Thy mercy o'er my life has flowed;
That mercy I adore!

In each event of life, how clear
Thy ruling hand I see!

Each blessing to my soul more dear,

Because conferred by thee.

In every joy that crowns my days,
In every pain I bear,

My heart shall find delight in praise,
Or seek relief in prayer.

When gladness wings my favored hour,
Thy love my thoughts shall fill;
Resigned, when storms of sorrow lower,
My soul shall meet thy will.

My lifted eye without a tear
The gathering storm shall see;
My steadfast heart shall know no fear;
That heart shall rest on thee!

HELEN M. WILLIAMS.

A patient heart. Milton, 15 118. NONE loves me, Father, with thy love, None else can meet such needs as mine; O, grant me, as thou shalt approve, All that befits a child of thine! From every doubt and fear release, And give me confidence and peace. Give me a faith shall never fail, One that shall always work by love; And then, whatever foes assail, They shall but higher courage move More boldly for the truth to strive, And more by faith in thee to live. A heart, that, when my days are glad, May never from thy way decline, And when the sky of life grows sad, May still submit its will to thine,A heart that loves to trust in thee, A patient heart, create in me!

119.

FROM THE GERMAN.

Waiting. Boylston, 32.

NOT so in haste, my heart!
Have faith in God and wait;
Although he seem to linger long,
He never comes too late.

He never comes too late;
He knoweth what is best:
Vex not thyself,-it is in vain;
Until he cometh, rest.

Until he cometh, rest,

Nor grudge the hours that roll;

The feet that wait for God,-'t is they
Are soonest at the goal.

Are soonest at the goal

That is not gained by speed;
Then hold thee still, O restless heart,
For I shall wait his lead.

B. T.

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