"When my Father and Mother Forsake me."

1 We trust an earthly reed, as if it were
Strong and secure to lean upon forever;
Betrayed by this one breaking, trust again,
And think that this will surely fail us never.

2 This gone, we try again; then, worn and spent,
We let the burden of our being fall

Careless and hopeless,

and where sinks it then?

Into the arms of Love, which shelters all;

Which waits, till, their caprice and wanderings o'er, It welcomes those it fain had sought before.

538

10s M.

JAS. F. CLARKE.

En Spirit and Truth.

1 GIVE me, my God, to feel thee in my joy, So shall my joy to love ennobled be; Give me to feel thee in this slight annoy,

Which turns to hope through that fine alchemy.

2 Give me, within the work which calls to-day,
To see thy finger gently beckoning on;
So struggle grows to freedom, work to play,
And toils begun from thee to thee are done.

3 The timely flower from earth's low tree may fall,-
The human wish may in the heart expire;
But from the blossom God the fruit shall call,

And heavenly love infer from earth's desire.

4 I lay each humblest hope within my prayer;
To thee no high seraphic aims I bring;
My daily bread, rest, strength for common care,
Yet all is truth within my offering.

5 But God demands both spirit, truth, and faith,
To fit earth's tones for his immortal clime;
And Christ, in his o'ercoming life and death,
Hath given the fulness of his faith sublime.

6 So what remains to sanctify my prayer,

If I bring truth, and Christ his faith impart? Thou Spirit, born of whom all spirits are,

With thine essential nature feed my heart.

7 Then, God, whose fire forms rubies out of clay,
And bids dull charcoal into diamonds burn,
Add Thou the grace, while in the truth I pray,
And this poor earth-sob into music turn.

539

10s M.

JAS. F. CLARKE.

New Heavens and New Earth.

1 NEW heavens! new earth! where are ye? Evermore
Cold skies, hard land, oppress the weary heart;
O seer, who gazed from Patmos' island-shore
Into the future, when shall these depart?

2 Earth, in her circular path among the stars,
Bears the same burden still of sin and woe;

And through an orbit of recurring wars
The disunited church must falter slow.

3 0, for new heavens! new light our minds to lead, New strength from God to nerve the palsied arm, New life from Christ to animate our dead,

New love our souls to enlarge, our hearts to warm! 4 Must we forever tread this barren way?

Repeat the fruitless round of old routine, Where no new dawn proclaims the advancing day, No tender spring clothes earth anew with green?

5 Believe we rather in the coming sweet

Of Christ on earth, the living Christ, to reign When saints, by creeds divided now, shall meet, And his one church all churches shall contain.

6 The lofty portals of these heavens expand,
The everlasting doors are lifted high;
And troops of angels at the gateway stand,
To welcome in redeemed humanity.

7 How long, dear mother! holy church, how long! From Austrian prison, Alabama's shore,

The oppressed, with fainting hearts, their cries

prolong :

Come, city of our God, nor leave us more!

540

10s M.

JAS. F. CLARKE,

Closing Aspiration.

10 THOU, by God ordained to lead the race
In mighty march and grand procession on;
King, Prophet, Saviour, show thy human face,
And let us know thee as ourselves are known.

2 Come, Prophet, teach the world. Thy solid truth Alone this doubt can cure, can light this gloom, Make real that unseen world's undying youth,

Which turns to dreams the terrors of the tomb.

3 Come, King, and reign o'er those who yearn to prove Life's task full-matched with their strong souls'

desire;

Who long for work deserving human love,
Not to live idly, not unwept expire.

4 Come, Saviour; in our sin and need and pain,
Treading the path where thy dear feet have gone,
Help us through thy full life to live again,-
And be, through thy deep peace, with God at one.

541

L. M.

Closing Doxology.

1 FROM all that dwell below the skies
Let the Creator's praise arise!
Let the Redeemer's name be sung,
Through every land, by every tongue!

2 Eternal are thy mercies, Lord!

Eternal truth attends thy word;

WATTS.

Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise and set no more.