28 REJOICE WITH TREMBLING.

29

Rejoice with trembling; yet rejoice;
For in the stillness of the soul
A voice is audible, a voice

No will can silence or control;
And this the language mortals hear:
Tears have their joy, and joys their tear.

Rejoice with trembling; every good
Has shadows darkening; every grief
Has bliss for its vicissitude,

Toil, rest, affliction, and relief,

The cheering sound, the chastening rod,
But over all the hand of God.

HEAR OUR PRAYERS.

(CHANT.)

Hear, Father, hear our prayer!

Thou who art pity where sorrow prevaileth ; Thou who art safety when mortal help faileth, Strength to the feeble, and hope to despair : Hear, Father, hear our prayer!

Hear, Father, hear our prayer!

Wandering alone in the land of the stranger, Be with all travellers in sickness and danger; Guard Thou their path, guide their feet from the snare:

Hear, Father, hear our prayer!

Hear Thou the poor that cry!

Help us to help them and lighten their sorrow; Grant them the sunshine of hope for the morrow;

They are Thy children; their trust is on high: Hear Thou the poor that cry!

Dry Thou the mourner's tear!

Bind up the wounds of time-hallowed affection; Grant to the widow and orphan protection; Be in their trouble a friend ever near : Dry Thou the mourner's tear!

Hear, Father, hear our prayer!

Long hath Thy goodness our footsteps attended; Be with the pilgrim whose journey is ended, When at Thy summons for death we prepare: Hear, Father, hear our prayer!

30

GOD OUR STRENGTH.

(Isaiah xl: 28–31.)

Have ye not seen? have ye not heard?
And has it not been told to you
From the beginning that the Lord
Will strengthen, will uphold you?
If, struggling through life's weary race,
You keep His law, and seek His face.

Yes! ye have heard, and ye have seen:
The Wise, the Great, the Holy,

Will ever be what He hath been,
The refuge of the lowly;

Who, from the depth of prayer's recess,
Seek strength from His almightiness.

Was it not told you from the first
He faints not, tires not ever?
He still is merciful as erst ;
His goodness waneth never.
Then trust to Him in all your way ;
He knows not darkness nor decay.

31

LOOKING UNTO GOD.

(Psalm xxx: 12, 13.)

I look to Thee in every need,
And never look in vain ;

I feel Thy touch, Eternal Love,

And all is well again;

The thought of Thee is mightier far
Than sin and pain and sorrow are.

Discouraged in the work of life,
Disheartened by its load,

Shamed by its failures or its fears,

I sink beside the road;

But let me only think of Thee,

And then new heart springs up in me.

Thy calmness bends serene above,
My restlessness to still;

Around me flows Thy quickening life,
To nerve my faltering will;

Thy presence fills my solitude;
Thy providence turns all to good.

Embosomed deep in Thy dear love;
Held in Thy law, I stand;
Thy hand in all things I behold,
And all things in Thy hand;
Thou leadest me by unsought ways,
And turn'st my mourning into praise.

32

JOY AFTER SORROW.

Cometh sunshine after rain ;

After mourning, joy again;
After heavy bitter grief
Dawneth surely sweet relief :

And my soul who from her height
Sank to realms of woe and night,
Wingeth now to heaven her flight.

None was ever left a prey,
None was ever turned away,
Who had given himself to God,
And on Him had cast his load :
Who in God his hope has placed
Shall not life in pain outwaste,
Fullest joy he yet shall taste.

Though to-day may not fulfil
All my hopes, have patience still;
For, perchance, to-morrow's sun
Sees thy happier days begun :

As God willeth march the hours,
Bringing joy at last in showers,
When whate'er we ask is ours.

I will meet distress and pain,
I will greet e'en death's dark reign,
I will lay me in the grave
With a heart still strong and brave:
Whom the Strongest doth defend,
Whom the Highest counts His friend,
Cannot perish in the end.

33 GOD'S COUNSEL UNSEARCHABLE.

Wait, O my soul ! thy Maker's will;
Tumultuous passions, all be still;
Nor let one murmuring thought arise:
His ways are just, His counsels wise.