THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER, OUR EARNEST
OF HEAVEN.

THE Spirit of Prayer, the sweet Spirit of
Prayer!

'Tis the key that unlocks the Kingdom of

Heaven,

To the faith of each penitent prodigal given,

The clear shining seal of his pardon revealing,

And Paradise angels to welcome him there.

O the Spirit of Prayer, the sweet Spirit of Prayer! Precious gift of the Comforter, Christ interced

ing;

His love at the Mercy-Seat promised to all;

With His own dying words for the sinner still pleading,

Dispelling the tempest of sin and despair.

O the Spirit of Prayer, the sweet Spirit of Prayer! How it lifts up the soul, at the Mercy-Seat

kneeling,

In the hour of temptation and trouble and care, The infinite Love of the Saviour revealing, The gift of God's Mercy-Seat, JESUS IS THERE!

The wings of His cherubim over thee hover,

And the boundless compassion of Jesus dis

cover;

And the clouds and the darkness are fled from

thy soul,

Through faith in the name of thy merciful Saviour,

Whose rainbows of glory are making thee whole.

'Tis the lesson of Faith, the sweet Spirit of Prayer! The wings of God's Seraphim cover thee kneel

ing.

'Tis the voice of God's Covenant, NEVER DESPAIR, The bliss of His own lovingkindness revealing, And the plea of thy Saviour OMNIPOTENT THERE.

O the Spirit of Prayer! 'Tis the voice of God's Son,

The Gift for the soul in Gethsemane won; In His own blissful likeness forever to rest :

And the whispers of angels around thee are stealing,

Heaven's accents of gratitude softly revealing From earth wafted up to the HOME OF THE BLEST.

Where the guardian angels each other are greeting, Foreseen, all the joys of the Harvest-Home Meeting,

Assurance of Faith in God's promised salvation For all who believed in Christ's dying com

passion,

"WHEN I COME IN MY KINGDOM, THEN THOU SHALT BE THERE."

CHILDHOOD'S MORNING, CHRIST'S ADORNING.

HO would not always be at school

WHO

Where Love Divine is still the Rule? The leaves of Love are children's play, As flowers are Nature's Holy Day. Oh sweetness of the Morning Hour! Were life all moulded by its Power, We folded in the dawn should be, Nor wish for wings away to flee!

Touched with such Light, by Grace Divine,
What miniatures of glory shine!

The playmates of each village green,
Angelic youths of Heaven foreseen:
Such children would we be forever!
From the Lord's fold to wander, never!
Content in childhood's Morn to stay,
New lessons learning every day!

But every day Christ's Loving Rule
Hastens our progress from the school:
Always the Grace of our Lord's Love
Preparing for our last remove!
And when we to that World repair,
The Home of all that's bright and fair,

The angels to our graves may come, And plant God's lilies round the tomb!

Then at the Resurrection Morn,

In the bright opening of the Dawn,
The fragrance of the sod may show,
Where flowers for transportation grow;
And in the Holy City's street,
The song of Love will we repeat;
The earliest taught in Jesus' name,
The Song of Moses and the Lamb!

CHRIST'S PREACHER IN DECAPOLIS.

SWEETER than Music's ecstatic enchantment,

Oh dear as the sun to one blind from his birth, The Light of the Lord's new-creating compassion, The voice of a Saviour forgiving on earth! Sitting low at the feet of his Merciful Healer, Extinguished insanity's fire in the soul, In calmness of reason, with loving emotion, Who knoweth the joy of the sinner made whole!

Oh could he but stay with his Saviour forever!
No more of sin's ravaging demons afraid,
But rest in the light of His smile, as the angels,
And never more wander again with the dead!
But higher than Heaven the glory baptizing
A sinner forgiven to work for his Lord,
And carry the tidings, through danger and ruin,
For others to trust in His life-giving Word!

The song of the healing shall echo before thee, The sound of the King in His love passing by; No more shall men perish before the Destroyer, Nor the wounded lie down in the desert to die!