LITTLE THINGS 443 LITTLE THINGS One little spark, enkindled, May set a town on fire. What volumes may be written 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, 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 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, It sheds its radiance far adown, A nameless man amid a crowd That throng'd the daily mart, Unstudied from the heart; It raised a brother from the dust, 2303. LITTLE THINGS: tests. 'LITTLE by little,' the tempter said, 'Little by little, and day by day, 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 it has enough of sunshine To make me long for tears. I am drifting idly onward, And I throw the hours away, For an hour is counted squander'd, If it holds no good, they say. And if there is nought of evil, And nothing of good in me, As it drifts to the unknown sea. To come not back again, On its green and pleasant edge, Past lily and reed and sedge, Then as it nears the ocean, And is merged in the mighty flood, They would say of the little river, 'It has done the best it could.' 2305. LIVING TO CHRIST. WE are the Lord's, whether we live or die; We are the Lord's, who for us all hath died; We are the Lord's, and heirs of the Most High; We are the Lord's, and shall the Lord's abide. 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'ss-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, Thy word abideth true: we are the Lord's. 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!' Visions of better things to come, within its shadow Christ, in His heaven of heavens, will hear thy We quench it that we may be still Content with merely living; But, would we learn that heart's full scope Which we are hourly wronging, Our lives must climb from hope to hope, And realize the longing.-Lowell. 2310. LONGING. Emblem of 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, And boldly on the waters go, To Him our Lord and God; We walk on life's tempestuous sea, For He who died to set us free, Hath call'd us by His word. 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. 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 : Look to Jesus, prayerful, waking, See what He, the Holy, bore; Does a scornful world despise? LOOKING TO JESUS Friends forsake thee or deny thee? When no longer thou may'st live; Peace the world can never give. Look to Him, thy head low bending; 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 From their pollution makes me clean. 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 ; Thine was the bitter price,- 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, Up to the heights of bless'd repose Thy love prepares with God ;- 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, Blessed are the lips that taste Make, then, once again your choice, |