Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor. i. 7.

ID all that draws or that distracts I wait:

This shall not hold me back by stress

of woe

Nor that seduce by aught of bliss below;

Mine eyes are fixed upon a far-off gate Whose pearly portals, be it soon or late, One day shall open ; and I wait to know What things my Lord hath hidden : and to go, An heir with Him, to claim my birth's estate. I wait to see my enemy overhurled For ever 'neath the chariot of my king ; I wait to see the glory of that world Whereof the poet-prophets sang and sing But this of all that comes I wait to see The Face of Him Who gave Himself for me.

G

Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

EPHES. iv. 30. Quench not the Spirit.—1 Thess. v. 19.

y covenant lamp was lit with heavenly fire,

And through the night of trial and of time
Against the dark of trouble or of crime,
It streams with cheering or convicting ray,

And evermore shall shine until the Day
Whereof it is mine earnest. Till that prime,
Through this the shadowy to the auroral clime,
So lightened, warned, I keep my constant way.
In vain about it blow in varying mood
The winds of guile or passion, or descend
The rains of evil will, to make an end,
Distilled in subtle dews or poured in flood.
Yet watch, my soul, for if it cease to shine,
Thine the neglect, the fatal folly thine !

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

EPHES. V. 19. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ?

Ps. cxxxvii. 4.

PING thou the Lord's song, holy hymn and

psalm, Although the land be strange : in peace

or war, Mid all that for thine hope would make or mar, Sing on, 0 pilgrim! sing beneath the palm By the still waters in the hours of calm ; Or on the howling waste—when very far The bourn before thee shows but as a starPour on thy longing such poetic balm. Sing on-of all that is and is to be, The hopes of exile and the bliss of home, The Church thou hast, the Zion thou shalt see, The Christ within thee and the Christ to come : For present cheer, for future glorious change, Sing thou the Lord's song though the land be

strange!

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God.

EPHES. vi. 13.

OUNTLESS, in ceaseless war, the ghostly foe

Sworn to thy ruin, Christian : hear the call
That bids thee wholly arm, else shalt thou

fall

By force or guile in shameful overthrow; Yet more than of their number must thou know : This, chief, that on the plain or 'neath the wall One in the host is deadlier foe than all, More fell in will and power to work thee woe. Meet him in panoply: sore is thy need : And watch to find him in whatever guise, And hate him, more than thou mayst dare despise, Unto the death, in word and thought and deed. Yea, arm, arm, arm ! and watch, without, within, If thou wouldst war against thy bosom-sin.

Ye all are partakers of my grace.

Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

PHIL. i. 7, 29.

VER a Martyr's head the sword of doom
Hangs by so slight a hair, a moment's

breath
By but a word may bring it down in death,

And crescent darker shadows of the tomb Seem now to mingle with his prison gloom Unto despair. Yet on his brows a wreath Of conquest rests, and in his eyes beneath No shades of terror or of trouble loom ! And to his children, martyrs too, oppressed, Friendless 'mid foes and fears, of him forlorn, Their brethren's pity and the whole world's scorn, He speaks, as one most blest to the most blest ! “Such grace is mine! such grace your sorrows

prove! The gift* of suffering for the Lord we love."