See My Hands bleed that bring thee grace,

My Heart doth bleed for thee,

Open to Me."

So till the break of day:

Then died away

That voice, in silence as of sorrow;

Then footsteps echoing like a sigh
Passed me by,

Lingering footsteps slow to pass.

Each footprint marked in blood, and on my door The mark of blood forevermore.

LONG BARREN.

HOU who didst hang upon a barren tree,

TH

My God, for me;

Though I till now be barren, now at length,

Lord, give me strength

To bring forth fruit to Thee.

Thou who didst bear for me the crown of thorn,

Spitting and scorn;

Though I till now have put forth thorns, yet now Strengthen me Thou

That better fruit be borne.

Thou Rose of Sharon, Cedar of broad roots,
Vine of sweet fruits,

Thou Lily of the vale with fadeless leaf,
Of thousands Chief,

Feed Thou my feeble shoots.

IF ONLY.

F I might only love my God and die!

IF

But now He bids me love Him and live on,
Now when the bloom of all my life is gone,
The pleasant half of life has quite gone by.
My tree of hope is lopped that spread so high,

And I forget how summer glowed and shone,
While autumn grips me with its fingers wan,
And frets me with its fitful windy sigh.
When autumn passes then must winter numb,
And winter may not pass a weary while,

But when it passes spring shall flower again : And in that spring who weepeth now shall smile, Yea, they shall wax who now are on the wane, Yea, they shall sing for love when Christ shall come.

I

DOST THOU NOT CARE?

LOVE and love not: Lord, it breaks my heart

To love and not to love.

Thou veiled within Thy glory, gone apart

Into Thy shrine, which is above, Dost Thou not love me, Lord, or care

For this mine ill?.

I love thee here or there,

I will accept thy broken heart, lie still.

Lord, it was well with me in time gone by
That cometh not again,

When I was fresh and cheerful, who but I?
I fresh, I cheerful: worn with pain
Now, out of sight and out of heart;

O Lord, how long?

I watch thee as thou art,

I will accept thy fainting heart, be strong.

"Lie still," "be strong," to-day; but, Lord, to-morrow,

What of to-morrow, Lord ?

Shall there be rest from toil, be truce from sorrow,

Be living green upon the sward

Now but a barren grave to me,

Be joy for sorrow?

Did I not die for thee?

Do I not live for thee? leave Me to-morrow.

WEARY IN WELL-DOING.

I

WOULD have gone; God bade me stay:

I would have worked; God bade me rest. He broke my will from day to day, He read my yearnings unexpressed, And said them nay.

Now I would stay; God bids me go :
Now I would rest; God bids me work.
He breaks my heart tossed to and fro,
My soul is wrung with doubts that lurk
And vex it so.

I go, Lord, where Thou sendest me;
Day after day I plod and moil :
But, Christ my God, when will it be
That I may let alone my toil

And rest with Thee?

MARTYRS' SONG.

WE

E meet in joy, though we part in sorrow; We part to-night, but we meet to-morrow. Be it flood or blood the path that 's trod,

All the same it leads home to God:
Be it furnace-fire voluminous,

One like God's Son will walk with us.

What are these that glow from afar,
These that lean over the golden bar,
Strong as the lion, pure as the dove,
With open arms and hearts of love?
They the blessed ones gone before,
They the blessed forevermore.
Out of great tribulation they went
Home to their home of Heaven-content ;
Through flood, or blood, or furnace-fire,
To the rest that fulfils desire.

What are these that fly as a cloud,
With flashing heads and faces bowed,
In their mouths a victorious psalm,
In their hands a robe and a palm?
Welcoming angels these that shine,
Your own angel, and yours, and mine ;