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GOD IS LOVE.

I CANNOT always trace the way
Where Thou Almighty One! dost move,
But I can always, always, say,
That God is love!

When fear her chilling mantle flings
O'er earth-my soul to heaven above,
As to her sanctuary springs,

For God is love.

When mystery clouds my darken'd path,
I'll check my dread, my doubts reprove,
In this my soul sweet comfort hath
That God is love.

The entanglement which restless thought,
Mistrust and idle reasonings move :
Are thus unravell'd and unwrought
That God is love.

Yes, God is love! a thought like this
Can every gloomier thought remove,
And turn all tears, all woes to bliss,
For God is love!

BOWRING.

THOUGHT FOR THE BROKEN-HEARTED.

I was a stricken deer that left the herd long since

With many an arrow deep infixed,

My panting side was charged when I withdrew
To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.
There was I found by one, who had himself
Been hurt by the archers-In his side he bore
And in his hands and feet the cruel scars.
With gentle force-soliciting the darts,

He drew them forth-and healed and bade me live. CowPER.

THE JOURNEY TO EMMAUS.

Ir happen'd on a solemn eventide,
Soon after He that was our surety died,
Two bosom friends, each pensively inclined—
The scene of all their sorrows left behind-
Sought their own village, busied as they went
In musings worthy of the great event;

L

They spake of Him they loved, of Him whose life, [strife; Though blameless, had incurred perpetual Whose deeds had left, in spite of hostile arts, A deep memorial graven on their hearts. The recollection like a vein of ore, [more; The further traced, enriched them still the They thought him, and they justly thought him, One

Sent to do more than he appear'd to have done; To exalt a people, and to place them high Above all else-and wondered he should die. Ere yet they brought their journey to an end, A stranger joined them, courteous as a friend, And asked them with a kind, engaging air, What their affliction was, and begged a share; Informed, he gather'd up the broken thread, And truth and wisdom gracing all he said, Explained, illustrated, and searched so well The tender theme on which they chose to dwell,

That reaching home, "the night," they said, " is near,

We must not now be parted, sojourn here." The new acqaintance soon became a guest, And made so welcome at their simple feast;

He bless'd the bread, but vanish'd at the word, And left them both exclaiming, "Twas the

Lord;

Did not our hearts feel all he deigned to say? Did they not burn within us by the way?" COWPER.

THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT.

THE cheerful supper done, with serious face They round the ingle form a circle wide; The sire turns o'er, with patriarchal grace, The big ha' Bible, once his father's pride. His bonnet reverently is laid aside

His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare; Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide,

He wales a portion with judicious care; And, "Let us worship God," he says, with solemn air.

They chant their artless notes in simplest guise :

[aim:

They tune their hearts, by far the noblest

Perhaps Dundee's wild, warbling, measures

rise,

Or plaintive Martyrs, worthy of the name, Or noble Elgin beats the heavenward flame, The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays;

Compared with these, Italian trills are tame: The tickled ears no heartfelt raptures raise, No unison have they with our Creator's praise.

The priest-like father reads the sacred page, How Abraham was the friend of God on Or Moses bade eternal warfare wage

[high;

With Amalek's ungracious progeny; Or how the royal bard did groaning lie, Beneath the stroke of heaven's avenging ire;

Or Job's pathetic plaint and wailing cry; Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic fire; Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre.

Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme,

How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed; How He who bore in heav'n the second name, Had not on earth whereon to lay His head; How His first followers and servants sped The precepts sage they wrote to many a land; How he, who lone in Patmos banished,

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