Confidence in God.

How are thy servants bless'd, O Lord!
How sure is their defence!
Eternal wisdom is their guide,
Their help-omnipotence.

In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,

Through burning climes I pass'd unhurt,
And breathed in tainted air.

Thy mercy sweeten'd every soil,
Made every region please;
The hoary Alpine hills it warm'd,
And smoothed the Tyrrhene seas.

Think, O my soul! devoutly think,
How with affrighted eyes

Thou saw'st the wide-extended deep
In all its horrors rise!

Confusion dwelt in

every face,

And fear in every heart,

When waves on waves, and gulfs on gulfs,
O'ercame the pilot's art!

Yet then, from all my griefs, O Lord!
Thy mercy set me free;

While, in the confidence of prayer,

My soul took hold on thee.

For though in dreadful whirls we hung
High on the broken wave,

I knew thou wert not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.

The storm was laid, the winds retired,
Obedient to thy will;

The sea, that roar'd at thy command,
At thy command was still.

In midst of dangers, fears, and deaths,
Thy goodness I'll adore;

And praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.

COME, let us sound her praise abroad,
Sweet Charity, the child of God!
Her's, on whose kind maternal breast
The shelter'd babes of misery rest;

Who, when she sees the sufferer bleed,-
Reckless of name, or sect, or creed,―
Comes with prompt hand, and look benign,
To bathe his wounds in oil and wine;

Who in her robe the sinner hides,
And soothes and pities, while she chides;
Who lends an ear to every cry,
And asks no plea—but misery.

Her tender mercies freely fall,

Like Heaven's refreshing dews on all;
Encircling in their wide embrace
Her friends, her foes,-the human race.

Nor bounded to the earth alone,
Her love expands to worlds unknown;
Wherever Faith's rapt thought has soar'd,
Or Hope her upward flight explored.

Ere these received their name or birth,
She dwelt in heaven, she smiled on earth:
Of all celestial graces bless'd,

The first-the last-the greatest-best!

When Faith and Hope, from earth set free,
Are lost in boundless ecstasy,

Eternal daughter of the skies,

She mounts to heaven-and never dies!

Drummond.

Peace.

SWEET Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave,

Let me once know.

I sought thee in a secret cave,

And ask'd if Peace were there:

A hollow sound did seem to answer, “No!
Go, seek elsewhere."

I did, and going, did a rainbow note.

"Surely," thought I,

This is the lace of Peace's coat;

I will search out the matter."

But, while I look'd, the clouds immediately
Did break and scatter.

Then went I to a garden, and did spy
A gallant flower-

The Crown-Imperial: "Sure," said I,
"Peace at the root must dwell."

But, when I digg'd, I saw a worm devour
What show'd so well.

At length, I met a reverend, good old man;
Whom, when for Peace

I did demand, he thus began:
"There was a prince of old

In Salem dwelt, who lived with good increase
Of flock and fold.

'He sweetly lived; yet sweetness did not save

His life from foes:

But, after death, out of his grave

There sprang twelve stalks of wheat,

Which many, wondering at, got some of those,
To plant and set.

"It prosper'd strangely, and did soon disperse
Through all the earth:

For they that taste it do rehearse,

That virtue lies therein,

A secret virtue, bringing peace and mirth,
By flight from sin.

Take of this grain, which in my garden grows,

And grows for you:

Make bread of it; and that repose

And peace, which every where

With so much earnestness you do pursue,

You'll find, is there."

George Herbert.

The Cross in the Wilderness.

SILENT and mournful sat an Indian chief,
In the red sunset, by a grassy tomb;

His eyes, that might not weep, were dark with grief,
And his arms folded in majestic gloom,
And his bow lay unstrung beneath the mound,
Which sanctified the gorgeous waste around.

For a pale Cross above its greensward rose,
Telling the cedars and the pines, that there
Man's heart and hope had struggled with his woes,
And lifted from the dust a voice of
prayer.
Now all was hush'd; and eve's last splendour shone,
With a rich sadness, on the attesting stone.

There came a lonely traveller o'er the wild,

And he, too, paused in reverence by that grave,
Asking the tale of its memorial, piled

Between the forest and the lake's bright wave;
Till, as a wind might stir a wither'd oak,
On the deep dream of age, his accents broke:

And the grey chieftain, slowly rising, said
"I listen'd for the words, which years ago
Pass'd o'er these waters: though the voice is fled,
Which made them as a singing fountain's flow,
Yet, when I sit in their long-faded track,
Sometimes the forest's murmur gives them back.

'Ask'st thou of him, whose house is lone beneath?
I was an eagle in my youthful pride,

When o'er the seas he came with summer's breath,
To dwell amidst us on the lake's green side.
Many the times of flowers have been since then;-
Many, but bringing nought like him again.

God is Every Where.

OH! show me where is He,

The high and holy One,
To whom thou bend'st the knee,
And pray'st," Thy will be done!"
I hear thy voice of praise,

And lo! no form is near;

Thine eyes I see thee raise,

But where doth God appear?

Oh! teach me who is God, and where his glories shine, That I may kneel and pray, and call thy Father mine.

Gaze on that arch above

The glittering vault admire!
Who taught those orbs to move?
Who lit their ceaseless fire?
Who guides the moon, to run
In silence through the skies?
Who bids that dawning sun

In strength and beauty rise?

There view immensity!-behold, my God is there—
The sun, the moon, the stars, his majesty declare!

See, where the mountains rise;
Where thundering torrents foam;
Where, veil'd in lowering skies,
The eagle makes his home!
Where savage nature dwells,
My God is present too-
Through all her wildest dells

His footsteps I pursue:

He rear'd those giant cliffs-supplies that dashing stream-
Provides the daily food, which stills the wild bird's scream.

Look on that world of waves,
Where finny nations glide;
Within whose deep, dark caves,
The ocean-monsters hide!
His power is sovereign there,

To raise to quell the storm;
The depths his bounty share,

Where sport the scaly swarm:

Tempests and calms obey the same almighty voice, Which rules the earth and skies, and bids the world rejoice.