'Tis good to think how well He knows
The silver's power to bear

The ordeal to which it goes;

And that, with skill and care,
He'll take it from the fire, when fit
For His own hand to polish it.

'Tis blessedness to know that He
The piece He has begun,

Will not forsake, till He can see-
To prove the work well done,-
An image by its brightness shown,
The perfect likeness of His own.

But ah! how much of earthly mould,
Dark relics of the mine,

Lost from the ore must He behold;
How long must He refine,

Ere in the silver He can trace

The first great semblance to His face.

Thou great Refiner! sit Thou by

Thy promise to fulfil :

Moved by Thy hand, beneath Thine eye,

And melted at Thy will,

Oh may Thy work for ever shine,
Reflecting beauty pure as Thine.

DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father."-MATT. x. 29.

THE insect that, with puny wing,

Just shoots along one summer ray ;
The floweret which the breath of spring
Wakes into life for half a day;

The smallest mote, the tenderest hair-
All feel our heavenly Father's care.

E'en from the glories of His throne
He bends to view this earthly ball:
Sees all, as if that all were one-
Loves one as if that one were all ;
Rolls the swift planets in their spheres,
And counts the sinner's lonely tears.

FOR WHAT SHALL I PRAISE THEE.

"I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me."-PSALM CXix. 75.

FOR what shall I praise Thee, my God and my King!
For what blessings the tribute of gratitude bring?
Shall I praise Thee for pleasure, for health and for

ease,

For the spring of delight, and the sunshine of peace?

Shall I praise Thee for flowers that bloomed on my breast,

For joys in perspective, and pleasures possessed?
For the spirits that heightened my days of delight,
And the slumbers that sat on my pillow by night?

For this should I praise! but if only for this,

I should leave half untold the donation of bliss ;
I thank Thee for sickness, for sorrow, for care,
For the thorns I have gathered, the anguish I bear.

For nights of anxiety, watchings, and tears,
A present of pain, a perspective of fears;

I praise Thee, I bless Thee, my King and my God,
For the good and the evil Thy hand hath bestowed.

The flowers were sweet, but their fragrance is flown ;
They yielded no fruits, they are withered and gone ;
The thorn it was poignant, but precious to me—
'Twas the message of mercy—it led me to Thee.

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?

"But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour."-LUKE X. 29.

THY neighbour?

It is he whom thou

Hast power to aid and bless,

Whose aching heart or burning brow
Thy soothing hand may press.

Thy neighbour? 'Tis the fainting poor,
Whose eye with want is dim,

Whom hunger sends from door to door;
Go thou, and succour him.

Thy neighbour? 'Tis that weary man,
Oppressed in every limb,

Bent low with sickness, age, and pain;
Go thou, and comfort him.

Thy neighbour? 'Tis the heart bereft
Of every earthly gem;
Widow and orphan, helpless left :
Go thou, and shelter them.

Thy neighbour? Yonder toiling slave,
Fettered in thought and limb,
Whose hopes are all beyond the grave,-
Go thou, and ransom him.

Oh, pass not, pass not heedless by ;
Perhaps thou canst redeem
The breaking heart from misery:
Go, share thy lot with him.

GIVE TO HIM THAT ASKETH THEE.

"Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away."-MATT. v. 42.

OH stay not thy hand when the winter winds rude

Blow cold through the dwelling of want and despair, To ask if misfortune has come to the good,

Or if folly has wrought the wreck that is there. When the heart stricken wanderer asks thee for bread, In suffering he bows to necessity's laws; When the wife moans in sadness, the children unfed, The cup must be bitter-Oh ask not the cause. When the Saviour of men raised His finger to heal, Did He ask if the sufferer were Gentile or Jew? When the thousands were fed with the bountiful meal, Did He give it alone to the faithful and few ? Oh scan not too closely the frailties of those

Whose bosoms may bleed on a cold winter's day, But give to the friendless who tells thee his woes, And from him that would borrow, Oh turn not away.

LIFE'S WORK.

"The night cometh when no man can work."-JOHN ix. 4.

ALL around thee fair with flowers,

Fields of beauty seem to lie;

All around thee clarion voices
Call to duty stern and high.

Be thou thankful, and rejoice in
All the beauty God has given ;
But beware it does not win thee

From the work ordained of Heaven.

To remove the wide-spread darkness,
That the light of Truth may shine;
And recall the child of error

To Jehovah's holy shrine.

To encourage suffering virtue,
Lest despairing it shall die,
And the light of hope rekindle
In the darkened, vacant eye.
Cheerfully of thine abundance
To the sick and poor impart,
And lift up the weight of sorrow
From the crushed and broken heart.
In the work ordained of Heaven,
Do thy part however small;
Oh be faithful, ever ready

To obey the Heavenly call.
Follow every voice of mercy,
With a trusting, loving heart ;
And in all life's earnest labour

Be thou sure to do thy part.

Now, to-day, and not to-morrow,
Work, Oh work, with all thy might,
Lest the wretched faint and perish
In the coming stormy night.
Now, to-day, and not to-morrow,
Lest before to-morrow's sun
Thou too, mournfully departing,
Shalt have left thy work undone.

OH for a voice of thunder, that might wake
The slumbering sinner ere he sinks in death;
Oh for a tempest, into dust to shake

His sand-built dwelling while he yet has breath ;

A viewless hand to picture on the wall

The fearful sentence ere the curtain fall.