Though, like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,

Darkness be over me,

My rest a stone;

Yet in my dreams I'd be

Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!

There let the way appear
Steps unto heaven;

All that thou send'st to me

Then, with my waking thoughts

Bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs

Bethel I'll raise;

So by my woes to be

Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer to Thee!

Or if on joyful wing
Cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upward I fly,

Still, all my song shall be,

Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer to Thee!

SARAH F. ADAMS.

NEAR HOME.

NE sweetly solemn thought

Comes to me o'er and o'er, ·

I am nearer home to-day

Than I ever was before.

Nearer my Father's House,

Where the many mansions be;

Nearer the great White Throne,
Nearer the jasper sea.

Nearer the bound of life,

Where we lay our burdens down;

Nearer leaving the cross,

Nearer wearing the crown.

But, lying dark between,

Winding down through the night,

Is the dim and unknown stream
That leads at last to light.

Closer, closer my steps

Come to the dark abysm;

Closer death to my lips

Presses the awful chrism.

Saviour, perfect my trust;

Strengthen my might of faith;

Let me feel as I would when I stand

On the rock of the shore of death;

Feel as I would when my feet

Are slipping over the brink; For it may be I'm nearer home, Nearer now, than I think.

ALICE CARY.