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PEACE IN JESUS.

My peace I give unto you"

PEACE in Jesus! blessed promise!
Covenant word of changeless love;
Sealed in blood, and daily witnessed
By Thy grace, Eternal Dove!
Peace in Jesus! oh, what blessing
Calm and pure our spirits know,
When the ties of earth forgotten
All our joys from Jesus flow.

Softly flows Siloa's fountain,

Thro' this wide and howling waste; Deepest, sweetest peace affording

All its hallowed stream that taste.
From the conflict faint and thirsty,
Deep we drain the cup of love;
Oh that deeper still our spirits
Might its endless blessings prove.

Peace in Jesus, tho' around us
Rage the tempest's angry strife;
Tho' the deep her fountains open,
O'er them floats the ark of life.
Then the weary Dove returning

From that dark and trackless sea,
Folds in peace her drooping pinion,
Sheltered from the storm in Thee.

K

Tho' on earth we've scorn and trouble,
In ourselves but shame and sin;
All without the reign of darkness,
All a fearful strife within;
He that died and lives for ever,
Saves and guards from every ill;
He that walked upon the waters
Still commandeth-" Peace, be still."

Peace in Jesus, when in ruins
Earth's proud battlements are laid;
Calmly still in Him abiding,

Rest we then the weary head.
When the sun in sackcloth mourneth,
When the winepress runs with blood;

On the sea of glass reposing,

Tune we still the harp of God.

LIGHT IN DARKNESS.

"All things work together for good to them that love God."

How weary and how worthless this life at times

appears!

What days of heavy musing, what hours of bitter

tears!

How dark the storm-clouds gather along the wintry

sky,

How desolate and cheerless the path before us lies!

And yet these days of dreariness are sent us from

above,

They do not come in anger, but in faithfulness, and

love;

They come to teach us lessons which bright ones could not yield,

And to leave us bless'd and thankful when their purpose is fulfilled.

They come to draw us nearer to our Father and our Lord;

More earnestly to seek His face, to listen to His

Word;

And to feel if now around us a desert land we see, Without the star of promise, what would its darkness be!

They come to lay us lowly and humble in the dust, All self-deception swept away, all creature hope and trust,

Our helplessness, our vileness, our guiltiness to own, And flee for hope and refuge, to Christ, and Christ alone.

They come to break the fetters which here detain us

fast,

And force our long-reluctant hearts to flee to heaven

at last,

And brighten every prospect of that Eternal Home, Where grief, and disappointment, and fear can never

come.

Then turn not in despondence poor weary heart away, But meekly journey onward through the dark and cloudy day;

Even now the bow of promise is above thee painted bright,

And soon a joyful morning will dissipate the night.

Thy God hath not forgot thee, and when He sees it

best,

Will lead thee into sunshine, will give thee bowers of

rest;

And all thy pain and sorrow, when the pilgrimage is

o'er,

Will end in heavenly blessedness and joys for evermore.

SPITTA.

From Hymns from the Land of Luther.

"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."

YE have not sowed in vain!

Though the heavens seem as brass,

And, piercing the crust of the burning plain,

Ye scan not a blade of

Yet there is life within,

grass.

And waters of life on high;

One morn ye shall wake, and the spring's soft green

O'er the moist'n'd fields shall lie.

Tears in the dull, cold eye,

Light on the darken'd brow,

The smile of peace, or the prayerful sigh,
Where the mocking smile sits now.

Went ye not forth with prayer?

Then ye went not forth in vain; "The Sower, the Son of Man," was there, And His was that precious grain.

Ye may not see the bud,

The first sweet signs of spring,

The first slow drops of the quickening shower
On the dry, hard ground that ring.

But the harvest home ye'll keep,
The summer of life ye'll share,

When they that sow and they that reap,
Rejoice together there!

From The Three Wakings.

"Thou maintained my lot."

SOURCE of my life's refreshing springs,
Whose presence in my heart sustains me,
Thy love appoints me pleasant things,
Thy mercy orders all that pains me.
If loving hearts were never lonely,
If all they wish might always be,
Accepting what they look for only,
They might be glad, but not in Thee.