SIMPLE TRUST. STILL, still, without ceasing, I feel it increasing, This fervour of holy desire; And often exclaim, Let me die in the flame Of a love that can never expire! Had I words to explain What she must sustain Who dies to the world and its ways; How joy and affright, Distress and delight, Alternately chequer her days. Thou, sweetly severe ! I would make thee appear, Than the bitter I meet, This faith, in the dark Through many sharp trials of love; Is the sorrowful waste That is to be pass'd In the way to the Canaan above. THE NECESSITY OF SELF-ABASEMENT. SOURCE of love, my brighter sun, In my youth thy charming eyes Spouse of Christ was then my name; Strangely jealous, I became Thee to love, and none beside, Through the dark and silent night Thou my gracious teacher wert; Conscious of no evil drift, Oh, the vain conceit of man, Dreaming of a good his own, Though the Lord is good alone! He the graces thou hast wrought Such his folly-proved, at last, "Tis by this reproof severe, Man is to himself made known. Learn, all Earth! that feeble man, LOVE INCREASED BY SUFFERING. "I LOVE the Lord," is still the strain But I reply-your thoughts are vain, Before the power of love divine Creation fades away; In all that we survey. In gulfs of awful night we find "Tis there he stamps the yielding mind, And doubles all its fires. Flames of encircling love invest, And pierce it sweetly through; Ah love! my heart is in the right- To thee, its ever new delight, Fresh causes of distress occur Where'er I look or move; The comforts I to all prefer Are solitude and love. Nor exile I nor prison fear; Nor castle walls, nor dungeons deep, There sorrow, for his sake, is found A Saviour doubles all my joys, I fear no ill, resent no wrong, Nor feel a passion move, When malice whets her slanderous tongue; Such patience is in love. SCENES FAVOURABLE TO MEDITATION. WILDS horrid and dark with o'ershadowing trees, Rocks that ivy and briers infold, Scenes nature with dread and astonishment sees, But I with a pleasure untold. |