One little spark, enkindled, May set a town on fire. Makes the coral strand, A daily penny, saved, A fortune may begin : Of moments multiplied, As little streamlets, joining, Our hours and days, our months and years, 2298. LITTLE THINGS: not to be despised. Do thy little, God hath made Do thy little, and when thou Cold and damp the sweat of death Then the little thou hast done, These shall crown the pillow'd head, 2299. LITTLE THINGS: not to be despised. SCORN not the slightest word or deed, Nor deem it void of power, There's fruit in each wind-wafted seed, Waiting its natal hour. LITTLE THINGS A whisper'd word may touch the heart, And call it back to life; A look of love bid sin depart, And still unholy strife. No act falls fruitless; none can tell Work and despair not; give thy mite, LITTLE THINGS He thought not of the deed he did, Had cool'd ten thousand parching tongues, A dreamer dropp'd a random thought, 'Twas old, and yet was new; A simple fancy of the brain, But strong in being true; It shone upon a genial mind, And lo! its light became A lamp of life, a beacon ray, A monitory flame. The thought was small, its issue great, A watch-fire on the hill; It sheds its radiance far adown, A nameless man amid a crowd That throng'd the daily mart, Let fall a word of hope and love, Unstudied from the heart; A whisper on the tumult thrown, It raised a brother from the dust, 2303. LITTLE THINGS: tests. 'LITTLE by little,' the tempter said, As a dark and cunning snare he spread For the young, unwary feet. 'Little by little, and day by day, I will tempt the careless soul astray Into the broad, flowery way, Until the ruin made is complete. 'Little by little,' sure and slow, As the present passes away. 2304. LIVES. Aimless THE river goes drifting past me, Woo'd by the wind and bee, So, idle and dreaming ever, It drifts to the great wide sea, And is lost in the world of waters : And it is a type of me. My life goes drifting stilly, Like a river, with the years, And nothing of good in me, As it drifts to the unknown sea To come not back again, Past lily and reed and sedge, And is merged in the mighty flood, They would say of the little river, 'It has done the best it could.' I am tired of aimless drifting, I will force the power within me I will be no more like the river; 2305. LIVING TO CHRIST. WE are the Lord's, whether we live or die; We are the Lord's-to Him, then, let us live, With soul and body, both with deeds and words, While heart, and tongue, and life assurance give Of this most precious truth: we are the Lord's! We are the Lord's-so shall our hearts ne'er fail, For one bright star its steady light affids, To cheer and guide us through the gloomy vale, We are the Lord's, who will preserve us still, In death's last conflict we will fear no ill, 2306. LIVING WATERS. That they were dearer far than we had taught IN some wild Eastern legend the story has been And yet the absence maketh it more clear. told, Of a fair and wondrous fountain, that flow'd in times of old, 2308. LONELY. Comfort for the Helen Hunt. Cold and crystalline its waters, brightly glancing in THERE is a land where beauty will not fade, the ray Of the summer moon at midnight, or the sun at height of day. And a good angel, resting there, once in a favour'd hour Nor sorrow dim the eye; Where true hearts will not sink nor be dismay'd, And love will never die. Tell me, I fain would go, For I am burden'd with a heavy woe; Infused into the limpid depths a strange mysterious The beautiful have left me all alone; power; A hidden principle of life, to rise and gush again, Where but some drops were scatter'd on the dry and barren plain. So the traveller might journey, not now in fear and haste, Far through the mountain desert, far o'er the sandy waste, If but he sought this fountain first, and from its wondrous store The true, the tender, from my path have gone, Friend, thou must trust in Him who trod before Must bear in meekness, as He meekly bore, The secret of unfailing springs alone with him he Think of His loneliness in places dim, bore. When no man comforted or cared for Him; Wild and fanciful the legend—yet may not meanings In that dread agony, 'Thy will be done!' high, Friend, do not thou despair, Visions of better things to come, within its shadow Christ, in His heaven of heavens, will hear thy lie? Type of a better fountain, to mortals now unseal'd, The full and free salvation in Christ our Lord reveal'd? Beneath the Cross those waters rise, and he who finds them there All through the wilderness of life the living stream may bear; And blessings follow in his steps, until where'er he goes, The moral wastes begin to bud and blossom as the rose.-H. L. L. 2307. LONELINESS: its lessons. THE shortest absence brings to every thought prayer!-Uhland. As plains the homesick ocean-shell Of love, the charmed melody It learn'd within that whispering wave, For something loved, yet undefined; Of music, from the Eternal Mind; So murmurs, with its child-like sigh, The melody it learn'd above. To which no echo may reply, Save from thy voice, Celestial Love! Frances S. Osgood. 2311. LONGINGS. Diverse AN old farm-house with meadows wide, 'Oh! if I could but fly away Amid the city's constant din, A man who round the world has been 'Oh! if I could only trace once more 2312. LOOKING TO JESUS. HE bids us come; His voice we know, To Him our Lord and God; Secure from troubled waves we tread, The wave is firm as rock. But if from Him we turn our eye, And see the raging floods run high, And feel our fears within ; Our foes so strong, our flesh so frail, Reason and unbelief prevail, And sink us into sin. Lord, we our unbelief confess, That we may doubt no more; 2313. LOOKING TO JESUS. JESUS in thy memory keep, Would'st thou be God's child and friend; Jesus in thy heart shrined deep, Still thy gaze on Jesus bend. In thy toiling, in thy resting, Look to Him with every breath, Look to Jesus' life and death. Look to Jesus, till reviving Faith and love thy life-springs swell; Strength for all things good deriving From Him who did all things well: Work, as He did, in thy season, Works which shall not fade away, Work while it is call'd to-day. Look to Jesus, prayerful, waking, When thy feet on roses tread; See what He, the Holy, bore; Does a scornful world despise? LOOKING TO JESUS Friends forsake thee or deny thee? He who finish'd all for thee, Takes thee then with Him to be.-Franzen. 2314. LOOKING TO JESUS. I LOOK to Jesus, and the cloud Of my transgressions melts away, E'en as the blackest midnight shroud Gives place to the returning day. I look to Jesus, and the stains Of my life's guilt, though dark and deep, Are wash'd, till not a spot remains, And I can safely wake and sleep. I look to Jesus, and the face Of God is turn'd on me in love, I feel a Father's fond embrace, And all my doubts and fears remove. I look to Jesus, and behold! My heart is lighten'd of its cares, My love for earthly things grows cold, And Pleasure vainly spreads her snares. I look to Jesus, when my foes With violence my peace assail; On His dear breast I find repose, And all their hateful efforts fail. I look to Jesus, and the sight Of all that He endured for me, Makes e'en my greatest suff'rings light Compared with His deep agony. I look to Jesus, when my zeal, And faith, and love, grow dead and cold; Then doth He Calvary reveal, And makes me in His service bold. I look to Jesus, when the waves I look to Jesus, and I see Heaven's golden portals opening wide, With ready welcome e'en to me, Though vile, to enter and abide. Thus let me, Lord, while life doth last, In faith look ever up to Thee, No gospel like this feast Spread for Thy Church by Thee; Nor prophet, nor evangelist Preach the glad news so free. All our redemption cost, All our redemption won ; All it has won for us, the lost; All it cost Thee, the Son. Thine was the bitter price, Ours is the free gift, given; Thine was the blood of sacrifice, Ours is the wine of heaven. Here we would rest midway, As on a sacred height, That darkest and that brightest day Meeting before our sight. From that dark depth of woes Thy love for us has trod, One sight alone we see, 2316. LORD'S SUPPER. Invitation to the Lo, the feast is spread to-day! Jesus summons, come away! From the vanity of life, From the sounds of mirth or strife, To the feast by Jesus given, Come and taste the Bread of Heaven. Why, with proud excuse and vain, Come, for all is now prepared; Blessed are the lips that taste Make, then, once again your choice, |