Take thy firft walk with God!
Let him go forth with thee;
By ftream or sea or mountain-path,
Seek ftill his company.

Thy first transaction be

With God himself above;

So fhall thy bufiness prosper well,

And all the day be love.

H. Bonar. 1856.

I AND MY HOUSE WILL SERVE THE LORD.

I

AND my house are ready, Lord,

With hearts that beat in sweet accord,

To serve Thee and obey Thee;

Be in the midft of us, we pray,

To guide and bless us, that we may

A willing service pay Thee:

Of us all,

Great and small,

Make a pious congregation,
Pure in life and conversation.

Let thy good Spirit by the word
Work mightily in us, O Lord,

Our souls and bodies filling!

O let the sun of grace fhine bright,
That there may be abundant light
In us and in our dwelling:

On our way,
Night and day,

With the heavenly manna feed us,
To the heavenly Canaan lead us.

Send peace and bleffing from above,
Unite us all in faith and love

Who in this house are living;
Let charity our hearts prepare
To suffer long and all things bear,
Meek, gentle, and forgiving:
Nor in aught

Chrift hath taught

Let us fail to one another,

But each love and help his brother.

Lord, let our house be built upon
Thy faithfulness and grace alone;
And when the day is clofing,
And night her gloomy fhadow flings,
Let us lie down beneath Thy wings,
With childlike truft repofing;

E'en with smart

In the heart,

Cheerful, happy, and confiding,
Patiently in Thee abiding.

If Thou fhouldft bless our home with wealth, Let not the world creep in by stealth,

And take away the bleffing;

For if our hearts fhould empty be
Of meekness and humility,

Although all else poffeffing,

We should miss

That true bliss,

Which not all the world's vaft treasure

Can supply in smalleft measure.

CHRIST, whose glory fills the skies,

Chrift, the true, the only Light,

Sun of Righteousness, arise,

Triumph o'er the fhades of night! Day-spring from on high, be near! Day-star, in my heart appear!

Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by Thee;

Joyless is the day's return,

Till thy mercy's beams I see;

Till they inward light impart,
Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Vifit then this soul of mine,

Pierce the gloom of fin and grief; Fill me, Radiancy Divine,

Scatter all my unbelief!

More and more Thyself display,

Shining to the perfect day!

Charles Wesley. 1740.

O

MORNING.

TIMELY happy, timely wise,

Hearts that with rifing morn arise!

Eyes that the beam celestial view,

Which evermore makes all things new!

New every morning is the love

Our wakening and uprifing prove,

Through fleep and darkness safely brought,
Reftored to life, and power, and thought.

New mercies, each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray;

New perils paft, new fins forgiven,

New thoughts of God, new hopes of Heaven.

If, on our daily course, our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,

New treasures ftill, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of Heaven in each we see;
Some softening gleam of love and prayer
Shall dawn on every cross and care.

As for some dear familiar strain
Untired we afk, and afk again,
Ever, in its melodious store,
Finding a spell unheard before,

Such is the bliss of souls serene,
When they have sworn, and steadfast mean,
Counting the coft, in all t' espy

Their God, in all themselves deny.

O could we learn that sacrifice,

What lights would all around us rise!
How would our hearts with wisdom talk
Along life's dulleft, drearieft walk!

We need not bid, for cloistered cell,
Our neighbor and our work farewell,
Nor ftrive to wind ourselves too high
For finful man beneath the sky.