Nor shall it in the desert cease,
Companion of our life's increase,
With manna of celestial peace:
We find it each successive morn,
Fresh as the glow of rosy dawn,
Or pearls upon the dewy lawn,
New sprinkled from the hand of God,
Where human feet had never trod,
The approaches to his own abode.

Our covenant divine abides;

And whom the Eternal Refuge hides, The angel of his presence guides, Across the wilderness of earth,

Across old Jordan's stormy firth,

Up to the city of our birth,

The throne and dwelling-place of love, The Salem of the souls above,

From which they nevermore remove!

THE SWEET SPIRIT OF PRAYER.

THE spirit of prayer! the sweet spirit of prayer!

The peace of the soul at the mercy-seat kneeling, In the hour of temptation and trouble and care, The infinite love of the Saviour revealing!

For the song and the burthen come often together, When the pilgrim is bearing the heat of the day; But the song breaketh forth in the darkest of weather,

And the pilgrim forgetteth the wearisome way.

Though our foes be so strong, yet ever the victor
Is he who is taught by the Spirit to pray;
The soul that is safe, in the Lord's loving-kindness,
Is the soul that is watching and praying alway;

While I wait for the Lord, by the promise of Jesus, He'll not let me perish in sin and despair: Whatever can happen, my heart is submissive; Content, if God gives me the spirit of prayer.

GOD IN GRACE AND NATURE.

D1

EAR Lord, I know each sweet command

Is sovereign love and grace divine;
Teach me to bow beneath thy hand,
And know no other will but thine.

Oh, let me not an ingrate prove,

Nor careless of love's reprimand, Nor ever from thy footsteps rove, Neglectful of my Shepherd's hand.

Let me not turn from thee aside,

Nor from thy living pastures stray;
Thy looks, thy words, my loving guide,
Thy precepts ever to obey.

The ripples of thy running brooks
Part of my daily songs shall be,
And some reflection of thy looks,
In every crystal spring I'll see.

The lilies of the field, dear Lord,
Arrayed in lowliest form and place,
Teach us, as sweetly as thy Word,

Thine own creative power and grace.

Thine is the wisdom of their story,

In loveliest blooms so sure to please, That Solomon in all his glory

Was not arrayed like one of these.

Sweet Nature, every hour to me

How clear thy sacred lessons shine! My Saviour, grant each page may be, As I grow older, more divine!

Thus, when from sin and death set free, All worlds entranced in bliss, shall see Nature created but to be

Bright emblems of thy Deity.

This universal frame shall prove,
And rising worlds on worlds adore,
Jehovah's Omnipresent Love,

And LOVE, th' Omnipotence of POWER!

O God, my Saviour! dwell in me,

All life, all law, all heaven above; And I shall all this glory see,

Dwelling in God, for God is Love!

THE HEIRS OF HEAVEN.

SON of God, whose life was given,

That we might be such heirs of Heaven,

For thee to live, with thee to die,

Thy wondrous love to glorify!

Death swallowed up in life is thine;
The dying thief's believing prayer
On Calvary is answered there,

In words of mystery and surprise,
"Shalt be with me in Paradise!"
Oh, dying love's eternal bliss,
Breathed as with sacramental kiss!

"To-day with me in Paradise!"

Christ's words, that all mankind may hear;
Faith's endless and all-conquering prize,
Dispelling every doubt and fear.