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Nay, bounteous-brow'd and bounteous-hearted, nay, I ask not for such largesse nor will take.

I bar'd my heart before you, but you thought "Twas cover'd still the veil was on your eyes, Or had I let you come too near to see?

Suppose the father of the prodigal,
Upon his way to meet the erring one,
Had chanc'd upon the elder son who ne'er
Had vext his soul for harlot-wasted goods,
And fallen upon his neck and pardon'd him
The faults and follies he committed not,

How could the young man take such love as that?
Had he not wrong'd his soul in taking it?

I say that self-abasement, undeserved,
Is but one shape of the damned Protean lie.

So, Alice, is it now 'twixt you and me :
You fain would pardon, slay the fatted calf,
And bid me don the robe and ring and shoes.
I have not sinn'd and will not take such grace.

God never sets us level with His eyes,
Lest we go blind: but, in some shape of earth,
Veiling Himself, reveals Himself, or would
If we would, but, we willing not, He stands
Powerless, because He will not force our will.

What are these words betwixt us twain? Am I
A god? No-but, maybe, a veil of God,
And hence His revelation: yours, if so

You had will'd: you willing not, I take my way.

I lov'd you, dear, and love you passing well,
And yet I will not, cannot, say that life
Without you is a desert: God is here

And work; and God and work are all enough.
And I will work just as I should have done
With you to work beside me, even you

Who cannot fail to live a noble life,

Being noble through and through: and so, good-bye,

God bless you so, good-bye, dear Alice Ker.

"DISCOURAGED BECAUSE OF THE

WAY."

WITH the earth-dust on our raiment and the earth-tears

on our cheek,.

Wrestling sorely in our passion, in our patience very weak,

Far off, far off seems the city which from far we still must seek.

Past the sunrise and the sunset glories of the east and

west,

Where the fair and good things ripen to the fairest and the best,

Where the heart beats on untiring, and in serving is at

rest.

Oh, the never-ceasing conflict! Oh, the stress on heart and brain !

"Lord, deliver us from evil!" mournfully we cry again; But the underbreath of passion is "Deliver us from

pain!"

L

Look upon us, God and Father! there is none to save but Thee:

Look upon us, God and Father! strengthen Thou each feeble knee:

Thou canst make the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, the blind to see.

Shame on us, on us faint-hearted, pausing here to weep and moan,

When beyond all thought's conceiving is the glory we have known,

Seeing, Father, Thou didst love us into life who were but stone.

Bid the weary silence break because of symphony and

song,

And the weary darkness pass because of glory white and

strong,

For the love that kills all coldness, and the right that slays all wrong.

BY ME: IN ME.

I.

WHATEVER Thy will may be,
Lord, let it be done by me.
Oh, give me the joyful strength
That fails not for journey's length;
And the swift, obedient feet

That hasten their tasks to meet ;
And the hands that, day by day,
Delight in their work alway;

And the voice that is true to raise
The burden of prayer and praise ;
And the eyes that are swift to see,
Because they are toucht of Thee;
And the heart of love to share
Thy little ones' joy and care :
Whatever Thy will may be,
Lord, let it be done by me.

II.

Whatever Thy will may be,
Lord, let it be done in me :

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