NOT now, my child-a little more rough tossing,
A little longer on the billows' foam;
A few more journeyings in the desert-darkness,
And then the sunshine of thy Father's home!
Not now-for I have wanderers in the distance,
And thou must call them in with patient love;
Not now-for I have sheep upon the mountains,
And thou must follow them where'er they rove.
Not now-for I have loved ones sad and weary;
Wilt thou not cheer them with a kindly smile?
Sick ones, who need thee in their lonely sorrow;
Wilt thou not tend them yet a little while?
Not now for wounded hearts are sorely bleeding,
And thou must teach those widow'd hearts to sing;
Not now-for orphans' tears are thickly falling;

They must be gather'd 'neath some sheltering wing. Go with the name of Jesus to the dying,

And speak that name in all its living power. Why should thy fainting heart grow chill and weary? Canst thou not watch with Me one little hour? One little hour! and then the glorious crowning, The golden harp-strings, and the victor's palm; One little hour! and then the Hallelujah! Eternity's long, deep thanksgiving psalm!

2273. LIFE. Retrospect of

My feeble bark has reach'd the shore,

And life's tempestuous sea is pass'd;

Trembling I trace my perils o'er

And yield my dread account at last. The rival arts that charm'd my youth, Those fancies of my wayward mind, Those winning dreams of love and truth, Are vain delusions all, I find.

A double death appals me now;

The one draws near with rapid strides, The other with his awful brow

Time from eternity divides. Sculpture and painting, rival arts!

Ye can no longer soothe my breast; 'Tis love Divine alone imparts

The promise of a future rest.
On that my trembling soul relies-
My trust the cross, my hope the skies.
Michel Angelo.

Though varying wishes, hopes, and fears,
Fever'd the progress of these years,
Yet now, days, weeks, and months, but seem
The recollection of a dream.-Scott.

Who that hath ever been

Could bear to be no more?

Yet who would tread again the scene

He trod through life before?-
James Montgomery.

2274. LIFE. River of

THERE is a pure and tranquil wave,
That rolls around the throne of love,
Whose waters gladden as they lave

The peaceful shores above.

While streams, which on that tide depend, Steal from those heavenly shores away, And on this desert world descend

O'er weary lands to stray;

The pilgrim faint, and nigh to sink
Beneath his load of earthly woe,
Refresh'd beside their verdant brink,
Rejoices in their flow. -Ball.

2275. LIFE. Rule for the conduct of

COURAGE, brother, do not stumble,
Though thy path be dark as night;
There's a star to guide the humble-
Trust in God and do the right.

Let the road be rough and dreary,
And its end far out of sight,
Foot it bravely! strong or weary,
Trust in God and do the right.
Perish policy and cunning!

Perish all that fears the light!

Whether losing, whether winning, Trust in God and do the right.

Trust no party, sect, or faction,—
Trust no leaders in the fight;
But in every word or action

Trust in God and do the right.

Trust no lovely forms of passion,-
Friends may look like angels bright;
Trust no custom, school, or fashion;

Trust in God and do the right.
Simple rule, and safest guiding,
Inward peace and inward might,

Star upon our path abiding,—

Trust in God and do the right.

Some will hate thee, some will love thee,
Some will flatter, some will slight;
Cease from man and look above thee,-
Trust in God and do the right.
Norman Macleod.

2276. LIFE. Rules for the conduct of
NOT love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st
Live well; how long or short permit to Heaven.
Milton.
Men should strive to live well, not to live long.
Earl of Sterling.
On parent knees, a naked new-born child,
Weeping thou sat'st, while all around thee smiled;
So live, that, sinking in thy last long sleep,
Calm thou may'st smile, while all around thee weep.
Sir W. Jones: from the Persian.

So to live that when the sun
Of our existence sinks in night,
Memorials sweet of mercies done

May shrine our names in memory's light,

And the blest seeds we scatter'd bloom
A hundred-fold in days to come.-Bowring.

2277. LIFE. Sadness of

SAD is our youth, for it is ever going,
Crumbling away beneath our very feet;

Sad is our life, for onward it is flowing

In current unperceived, because so fleet. Sad are our hopes, for they were sweet in sowingBut tares, self-sown, have overtopp'd the wheat; Sad are our joys, for they were sweet in blowingAnd still, oh still, their dying breath is sweet; And sweet is youth, although it hath bereft us

Of that which made our childhood sweeter still;

And sweet is middle life, for it hath left us
A nearer good to cure an older ill;

PERCEIV'ST thou not the process of the year,
How the four seasons in four forms appear,
Resembling human life in every shape they wear?
Spring first, like infancy, shoots out her head,
With milky juice requiring to be fed :
Helpless, though fresh, and wanting to be led.
The green stem grows in stature and in size,
But only feeds with hope the farmer's eyes;
Then laughs the childish year with flow'rets crown'd,
And lavishly perfumes the fields around,
But no substantial nourishment receives;
Infirm the stalks, unsoiled are the leaves.

Proceeding onward whence the year began,
The Summer grows adult, and ripens into man.
This season, as is man, is most replete
With kindly moisture and prolific heat.

Autumn succeeds, a sober, tepid age,
Not froze with fear nor boiling into rage;
More than mature, and tending to decay,

When our brown locks repine to mix with odious

grey.

Last, Winter creeps along with tardy pace : Sour is his front, and furrow'd is his face;

His scalp if not dishonour'd quite of hair,

The ragged fleece is thin, and thin is worse than

bare.

E'en our own bodies daily change receive,
Some part of what was theirs before they leave;
Nor are to-day what yesterday they were:
Nor the whole same to-morrow will appear.
Ovid, tr. by Dryden.

2280. LIFE: soon over.

OUR life so fast away doth slide As doth an hungry eagle through the wind,

Or as a ship transported with the tide,

Which in their passage leave no print behind.

Davies.

The blue sea wears a crown of flame, The rosy clouds drink sapphire dew, Till, melted into each, no name

Of human birth defines the hue.

And thus the mortal life, meseems,
At waning tide shall woven be
With life immortal-earth's best dreams
And heaven's fused in harmony.

Till only infinite wisdom knows

The word, beyond our speech's range, To paint the mystic light that throws Its veil of peace about the change.

2290. LIFE. Way of

OUR lives are rivers, gliding free To that unfathom'd, boundless sea, The silent grave!

Thither all earthly pomp and boast Roll, to be swallow'd up and lost

In one dark wave.

Thither the mighty torrents stray, Thither the brook pursues its way, And tinkling rill.—Manrique.

2291. LIFE. Web of

THE web of our life is of a mingled

Yarn, good and ill together: Our virtues

Would be proud, if our faults whipt them not; and

Our crimes would despair, if they were not
Cherish'd by our virtues.—Shakespeare.

2292. LIGHT.

HAIL, holy Light, offspring of heaven first born,

Or of th' Eternal co-eternal beam,

May I express thee unblamed? Since God is Light,
And never but in unapproached light
Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright essence increate.
Or hear'st thou rather pure ethereal stream,
Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,
Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest
The rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless infinite!-Milton.

Prime cheerer, Light!

Of all material beings, first and best!
Efflux divine! Nature's resplendent robe !
Without whose vesting beauty, all were wrapt
In unessential gloom! and thou, O Sun!
Soul of surrounding worlds, in whom, best seen,
Shines out thy Maker!- Thomson.

Walk

Boldly and wisely in that light thou hast ;-
There is a hand above will help thee on. - Bailey.

2293. LITANY. A

THOU who dost dwell alone,

Thou who dost know Thine own,

Thou to whom all are known
From the cradle to the grave,

Save, oh save!

From the world's temptations;
From tribulations;
From that fierce anguish
Wherein we languish ;

From that torpor deep

Wherein we lie asleep,

Heavy as death, cold as the grave,— Save, oh save!

When the soul, growing clearer,
Sees God no nearer ;

When the soul, mounting higher,
To God comes no nigher;
But the arch-fiend Pride
Mounts at her side,
Foiling her high emprise,

Sealing her eagle eyes,

And, when she fain would soar,

Makes idols to adore;

Changing the pure emotion

Of her high devotion

To a skin-deep sense

Of her own eloquence,

Strong to deceive, strong to enslave,Save, oh save!

From the ingrain'd fashion

Of this earthly nature,

That mars Thy creature;
From grief that is but passion;
From mirth that is but feigning;

From tears that bring no healing;
From weak and wild complaining,—
Thine own strength revealing,
Save, oh save!

From doubt where all is double,

Where wise men are not strong, Where comfort turns to trouble,

Where just men suffer wrong, Where sorrow treads on joy, Where sweet things soonest cloy, Where faiths are built on dust,

Where love is half mistrust,-

Hungry, and barren, and sharp as the sea,—

Oh set us free!

Oh let the false dream fly
Where our sick souls do lie
Tossing continually!

Oh, where thy voice doth come,
Let all doubts be dumb!

Let all words be mild,
All strifes be reconciled,
All pains beguiled!
Light brings no blindness,

Love no unkindness,

Knowledge no ruin,

Fear no undoing:

From the cradle to the grave,

Save, oh save !-Matthew Arnold.

2294. LITANY. The soul's

IN the hour of trial,
Jesus, pray for me;
Lest, by base denial,

I depart from Thee:

When Thou see'st me waver, With a look recall,

Nor for fear or favour

Suffer me to fall.

With its witching pleasures,
Would this vain world charm;

Or its sordid treasures

Spread to work me harm;
Bring to my remembrance
Sad Gethsemane,
Or, in darker semblance,
Cross-crown'd Calvary.

If with sore affliction
Thou in love chastise,
Pour Thy benediction
On the sacrifice :
Then upon Thine altar,
Freely offer'd up,
Though the flesh may falter,
Faith shall drink the cup.

When in dust and ashes

To the grave I sink, While heaven's glory flashes O'er the shelving brink, On Thy truth relying Through the mortal strife, Lord, receive me dying

To eternal life.-James Montgomery.

2295. LITTLE CHILDREN: everywhere.

SPORTING through the forest wide; Playing by the water side;

Wandering o'er the heathy fells;
Down within the woodland dells;
All among the mountains wild,
Dwelleth many a little child!
In the baron's hall of pride;
By the poor man's dull fireside :
'Mid the mighty, 'mid the mean,
Little children may be seen,
Like the flowers that spring up fair,
Bright and countless everywhere!
In the far isle of the main ;
In the desert's lone domain;
In the savage mountain-glen,
'Mong the tribes of swarthy men ;
Wheresoe'er a foot hath gone;
Wheresoe'er the sun hath shone
On a league of peopled ground,
Little children may be found!
Blessings on them! they in me
Move a kindly sympathy,
With their wishes, hopes, and fears;
With their laughter and their tears;
With their wonder so intense,
And their small experience!
Little children, not alone
On the wide earth are ye known,
'Mid its labours and its cares,
'Mid its sufferings and its snares;
Free from sorrow, free from strife,
In the world of love and life,
Where no sinful thing hath trod-
In the presence of your God,
Spotless, blameless, glorified-

Little children, ye abide !-Mary Howitt.

2296. LITTLE THINGS. Doing

LET us be content to work, To do the thing we can, and not presume To fret because it's little. 'Twill employ Seven men, they say, to make a perfect pin. Who makes the head consents to miss the point; Who makes the point agrees to leave the head; And if a man should cry, 'I want a pin, And I must make it straightway, head and point, His wisdom is not worth the pin he wants.

E. B. Browning.

2297. LITTLE THINGS. Influence of

LETTERS join'd make words,
And words to books may grow,
As flake on flake, descending,
Forms an avalanche of snow.
A single utterance may good
Or evil thoughts inspire;