Come, labour on!

No time for rest, till glows the western sky,
While the long shadows o'er our pathway lie,
And a glad sound comes with the setting sun—
"Servants, well done!"

Come, labour on!

The toil is pleasant, the reward is sure,
Blessed are those who to the end endure;
How full their joy, how deep their rest shall be,
O Lord, with Thee!

BORTHWICK.

FAITH.

His promises surpass my thought,
But faithful is my Lord;

In unbelief I stagger not,

For God hath spoke the word.

Faith lends her realising light,
And clouds and shadows fly;
The Invisible appears in sight
Distinct to mortal eye.

Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees

And looks to that alone,

Laughs at impossibilities,

And whispers, “It is done.”

THE BEAUTIES OF CREATION.

I PRAISED the earth, in beauty seen,
With garlands gay of various green!
I praised the sea, whose ample field
Shone glorious as a silver shield!
And earth and ocean seemed to say,
"Our beauties are but for a day!"

I praised the sun, whose chariot rolled
On wheels of amber and of gold!
I praised the moon, whose softer eye
Gleamed sweetly through the summer sky!
And moon and sun in answer said,
"Our days of light are numbered!"

O God! how good, beyond compare !
If thus Thy meaner works are fair,
If thus Thy beauties gild the span
Of ruined earth, and sinful man,
How glorious must the mansion be

Where Thy redeemed shall dwell with Thee!

HEBER.

GOD hath created nights

As well as days to deck the varied globe;
Grace comes as oft clad in the dusky robe
Of desolation, as in white attire.

"ALL!"

A NEW YEAR'S THOUGHT.

GOD's reiterated" ALL,"

O wondrous word of peace and power!
Touching with its tuneful fall

Each unknown day, each hidden hour,
Of the coming year.

Only all His word believe,

All peace and joy your heart shall fill,
All things asked ye shall receive;
This is thy Father's word and will
For the coming year.

"All I have is thine," saith He!

"All things are yours," He saith again!

All the promises for thee

Are sealed with Jesus Christ's Amen,

For the coming year.

He shall all your need supply,

And He will make all grace abound;

Always all-sufficiency

In Him for all things shall be found

Through the coming year.

All His work He shall fulfil,

All the good pleasure of His will, Keeping thee in all thy ways,

And with thee always, all the days

Of the coming year. FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL.

B

IMPERFECT.

BROKEN Sunlight! shadows in its train ;
Golden bow that cometh with the rain;
Beams of brightness, parted into flakes
Where the cloud upon the beauty breaks.
Broken songs we never may complete,
Tender strains no voice can e'er repeat;
Tuneful harmonies our lips begin,

Silenced where a sudden hush breaks in!

Broken hopes, built up so high, so high,
Suddenly in ruins round us lie;
Dreams of beauty ever unfulfilled;
Longings never met, yet never stilled.
Broken love! O sweetness incomplete!
Souls that touch, but never wholly meet,
Precious treasure scattered round about-
Hungry hearts that never find it out.

Broken paths, where hands may clasp no more;
Footsteps lost upon the river shore ;
Half-told stories with an end so sweet,
Said nor heard for ever incomplete!

Broken smiles, on which the tear-drops fall;
Laughter, with an anguish through it all;
Faces lighted up, all glad and bright ;
Just to meet the bitterness and blight!

Broken prayers! O Father, dost Thou hear
Stammering words that utter nothing clear?
Lips that breathe out "God" with stammering sound,
While the thoughts of earth break in around.

Broken life! poor, vain, imperfect thing;
Echoes from the infinite that ring!
Fragments washed up by the waves that roll
From the great beyond-the perfect whole.

Weary heart, if thou art Christ's, be strong;
"Tis but a little while-not long! not long!
We shall drop these broken ties to take
Treasures that can never, never break!

EVANGEline.

SWINGING from its great arms, the trumpet-flower and the grape-vine

Hung their ladder of ropes aloft like the ladder of Jacob,

On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascending, descending,

Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from blossom to blossom.

Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slumbered beneath it.

Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn of an opening heaven

Lighted her soul in sleep with the glory of regions

celestial.

LONGFELLOW.