GOD HOLDS HIM FAST, WHO TRUSTS HIMSELF TO HIM.

IN sorrows, pain, and trials, trust to God thy whole condition;

Leave Him to act for ever; and all calm and patient

rest.

We forge ourselves new sorrows by our hearts' vain

opposition :

Let go thy soul! and it shall fall upon thy Father's Breast.

HE WHO CLEAVES TO NOTHING, DWELLS IN REST.

FROM all created things, and from thyself,

Thy spirit loosened be:

What God doth take away, give up to Him,

And love Him perfectly!

The soul, thus bared of all, can rise on high,

And in God freely soar,

And dwell in blessed stillness, where no storms

Can touch it ever more.

L

BITTER TO THE TASTE, BUT WHOLESOME.

WHEN God Himself unto the soul in love draws near,

Then falleth lightly on us Sorrow's heaviest load; Yet none the less of fruit and blessing doth it bear, If in the darkness also we lie still in God.

JESUS TO THE SOUL.

My child, give Me thy heart, thine understanding, and thy will:

Henceforth thine every action by My voice directed be! Look ever unto Me alone, and keep thee low and still; That all thy thoughts, desires, and love, for ever rest in Me.

HE THAT LOVES GOD ALONE, REMAINS

UNTROUBLED.

WOULD'ST thou for ever joyful live?

In God be all thy gladness!
Comfort and joy in all things else

At last will bring thee sadness.

THE GATHERING.

WHITHER away, with heart, and thoughts, and longings?
Gather together what is strewed abroad!
And, through Eternity's One living Centre,

Let flow the powers of love direct to God!
Let all things go! then shalt thou find The One ;
And all that heart can need, in that alone.

JESUS TO THE SOUL.

CLEAR out thy heart, and all, for Me:
The house is Mine-dear child, be still!

Sit down, and watch Me silently,

Whilst through each part I work My Will.

THE BLESSED RETREAT.

MAY the whole world, its fairest and its sweetest,
Be to thy spirit as a desert wild :

Thine own heart be thy secret place of refuge,

Where God shall hold communion with His child.

"IT WILL SOON BE ACCOMPLISHED."

AFTER rain, gleams forth the blessed sunshine;
After cold and storm, come summer days:
Sweet rest follows after cross and sorrow;

Happiness the pain at last allays.

Now, 'tis day; and now, the night draws nigh:Soon, "Fulfilled !" shall be our joyful cry.

"I AWAIT THE VISIT."

GLAD tidings reach me from my Lord;-that He,
My spirit's Bridegroom, soon will come to me:
Therefore I stay at home by night and day,
Lest He should come whilst I am far away.

"WHAT STANDS OUTSIDE CONCERNS THEE NOT."

ALL outer things, leave standing there!

They bring but care and strife.

To walk, in soul, with God alone,
Brings rest, and joy, and life.

ADAM'S DEATH IS CHRIST'S LIFE.

As Nature's life within thy soul shall disappear,

The more the Life of Christ shall be revealed in thee: Slay, then, what can be slain; nor cross nor sorrow fear! What of the Old is lost, in Christ made new shall be.

"SINK DOWN, AS A LITTLE CHILD,
IN THE TENDER MERCY."

SWEET and bitter;

Joy and sorrow ;—

All that Jesus sends is best.

Lie still, only,

In the Cradle :

In His Keeping take thy rest.

OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE.

He serves and loves God better, who can break his own self-will,

Than he who doth some mighty work of his own mind

fulfil.