THE REWARD OF GOD'S SAINTS.

AWAKE, my soul, chase from thine eyes
This drowsy sloth, and quickly rise;
Up and to work apace :

No less than kingdoms are prepared,
And endless bliss for their reward,
Who finish well their race.

'Tis not so poor a thing to be
Servants to heaven, dear Lord, and Thee,
As this fond world believes :
Not even here, where oft the wise
Are most exposed to injuries,
And friendless virtue grieves.

Sometimes Thy hand lets gently fall
A little drop, that sweetens all

The bitter of our cup:

O what hereafter shall we be,

When we shall have whole draughts of Thee,
Brimful, and drink them up!

Say, happy souls, whose thirst now meets
The fresh and living stream of sweets
Which spring from that blest throne;
Did you not find this true e’en here?
Do you not find it truer there,
Now heaven is all your own?

yes, the sweets we taste exceed All we can say, or you can read;

They fill and never cloy:

On earth our cup was sweet, but mixed;
Here all is pure, refined, and fixed,
All quintessence of joy."

Hear'st thou, my soul, what glorious things
The Church of heaven in triumph sings
Of their blest life above?

Cheer thy faint hopes, and bid them live;
All these thy God to thee will give,
If thou embrace His love.

Great God, of rich rewards, who thus
Hast crowned Thy saints, and wilt crown us,
As both to Thee belong,

O may we both together sing
Eternal praise to Thee our King
In one eternal song.

HICKES.

DEVOTION.

O LORD, who didst vouchsafe to refresh Thy holy martyr Stephen, while suffering for the truth, with the glorious consolation of Thy divine presence; grant that we also at our departure from this life, being sustained and comforted by Thy heavenly grace, may finally be admitted to the realms of everlasting rest and peace, evermore to dwell with Thee, O blessed Saviour, who livest and reignest with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. AMEN.

JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON.

Tracts for the Christian Seasons.

ST. JOHN'S DAY.

Family Love.

PROPER LESSONS: Morning, 1st. Eccles. v.; 2nd. Rev. i.
Evening, 1st. Eccles. vi.; 2nd. Rev. xxii.

EPISTLE, 1 St. John i. 1. GOSPEL, St. John xxi. 19.

SALUTE Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them." With such salutations St. Paul brings his Epistle to the Romans to a close; it is but a list of names; doubtless as one by one they have fallen upon our ears we have let our attention flag; we have hardly listened; when the Apostle thus ran on, "Salute Urbane," "Salute Apelles," "Salute Herodion," "Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa," and those we have already quoted, we have not followed him with our heart; nay, we have perhaps said to ourselves, "what is this to us?" It has seemed an unprofitable repetition of names of unknown men long since passed away, in whom we have no concern; our interest in the Epistle has drooped;

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anu as regards our own individual profit we have looked upon it as finished before we come to these closing lines.

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And yet let us remember that the Apostle did not solely of his own mind insert what appears at first an unmeaning, uninteresting list of names; he was moved to insert them by the Holy Ghost; and hence we may be sure that there is profit to be got from this apparently barren ground, if our hearts know how to search aright. We know how often beneath dreary and waste places gold is hidden, or other precious things, such as iron and coal, which the unskilled traveller knows not how to find; we know how often herbs full of virtue and gifted with healing powers for the use of men, spring on desolate heaths and are trodden under foot by those who in their ignorance look on them as common things; while "all is not gold that glitters," much that does not glitter is of infinite worth. So likewise many parts of Scripture which at first we might be disposed to reckon among "waste places," and to pass quickly by, when more deeply searched into will be found to yield precious lessons to the soul, more to be esteemed than fine gold.

This particular chapter of St. Paul, that is,