Yes, we all live to God!

FATHER, thy chastening rod

So help us, thine afflicted ones, to bear,
That, in the spirit-land,

Meeting at thy right hand,

"Twill be our heaven to find that-thou art there!

FORSAKING ALL FOR CHRIST.

GRANT.

JESUS, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow thee;
Naked, poor, despised, forsaken,

Thou, from hence, my all shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,

All I've sought, or hoped, or known,
Yet how rich is my condition!

God and heaven are still my own.

Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Saviour too:
Human hearts and looks deceive me,
Thou art not, like them untrue;
And whilst thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate, and friends may scorn me;
Show thy face, and all is bright.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain,

In thy service pain is pleasure,
With thy favour loss is gain.

I have called thee, "Abba, Father,"

I have set my heart on thee; Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, All must work for good to me.

Man may trouble and distress me,
"Twill but drive me to thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me,

Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh! 'tis not in grief to harm me,
While thy love is left to me;
Oh! 'twere not in joy to charm me,
Were that joy unmixed with thee.

Soul, then know thy full salvation,
Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care,
Joy to find in every station
Something still to do or bear.

Think what Spirit dwells within thee;
Think what Father's smiles are thine;

Think that Jesus died to win thee;

Child of heaven canst thou repine?

Haste thee on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith, and winged by prayer;

Heaven's eternal days before thee,

God's own hand shall guide thee there. Soon shall close thy earthly mission, Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days; Hope shall change to glad fruition, Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

HEAVENLY LOVE.

SOUTHEY.

THEY sin who tell us Love can die.
With life all other passions fly,
All others are but vanity.

In heaven Ambition cannot dwell,
Nor Avarice in the vaults of hell;
Earthly these passions of the earth,
They perish where they have their birth:
But Love is indestructible.

Its holy flame for ever burneth,

From heaven it came, to heaven returneth;
Too oft on earth a troubled guest,
At times deceived, at times oppressed,
It here is tried and purified,

Then hath in heaven its perfect rest;
It soweth here with toil and care,
But the harvest time of Love is there.

HERE AND THERE.

MORE.

HERE, bliss is short, imperfect, insecure;

But total, absolute, and perfect there.

Here, time's a moment, short our happiest state;

There infinite duration is our date.

Here, Satan tempts, and troubles e'en the best;

There Satan's power extends not to the blest.

In a weak, sinful body, here I dwell;

But there I drop this frail and sickly shell.

Here, my best thoughts are stained with guilt and fear;
But love and pardon shall be perfect there.

Here, my best duties are defiled with sin;
There, all is ease without and peace within.
Here, feeble faith supplies my only light;
There, faith and hope are swallowed up in sight.
Here, love of self my fairest works destroys,
There, love of God shall perfect all my joys.
Here, things, as in a glass, are darkly shown,
There, I shall know as clearly as I'm known.
Frail are the fairest flowers which bloom below;
There, freshest palms on roots immortal grow.
Here, wants and cares perplex my anxious mind;
But spirits there a calm fruition find.

Here, disappointments my best schemes destroy;
There, those that sowed in tears shall reap in joy.
Here, vanity is stamped on all below;
Perfection, there, on every good shall grow.
Here, my fond heart is fastened on some friend,
Whose kindness may, whose life must, have an end;
But there, no failure can I ever prove,―

God cannot disappoint, for God is love.

Here, Christ for sinners suffered, groaned, and bled;
But there, he reigns the great triumphant Head.
Here, mocked and scourged, he wore a crown of thorns;
A crown of glory there his brow adorns.

Here, error clouds the will, and dims the sight;
There, all is knowledge, purity, and light.
Here, so imperfect is this mortal state,

If blest myself, I mourn some other's fate-
At every human wo I here repine;
The joy of every saint shall there be mine.

Here, if I lean, the world shall pierce my heart;

But there, that broken reed and I shall part.
Here, on no promised good can I depend;
But there, the Rock of ages is my friend.
Here, if some sudden joy delight inspire,
The dread to lose it damps the rising fire;
But there, whatever good the soul employ,
The thought that 'tis eternal, crowns the joy!

A NAME IN THE SAND.

GOULD.

ALONE I walked the ocean strand;
A pearly shell was in my hand :
I stooped and wrote upon the sand
My name-the year—the day.
As onward from the spot I passed,
One lingering look behind I cast:
A wave came rolling high and fast,
And washed my lines away.

And so, methought, 'twill shortly be
With every mark on earth from me;
A wave of dark oblivion's sea

Will sweep across the place,
Where I have trod the sandy shore
Of time, and been to be no more,
Of me-my day-the name I bore,
To leave nor track nor trace.

And yet, with Him who counts the sands,
And holds the waters in his hands,

I know the lasting record stands,

Inscribed against my name,