They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.-ST. LUKE V. 31, 32. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.-ST. LUKE XV. IO. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.-ISA. i. 18. "COME unto Me, ye weary, And I will give you rest." Of pardon, grace, and peace ; Of love which cannot cease. "Come unto Me, ye wanderers, Which comes to cheer the night ! 66 Come unto Me, ye fainting, The foe is stern and eager, The fight is fierce and long ; "And whosoever cometh, I will not cast him out." But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away.-1 Cor. vii. 29, 30, 31. THE little griefs-the petty wounds, Crackling of thorns beneath the pot, But on the fire burns clear and still; The small wounds heal, the clouds are rent, We will trust God. The blank interstices With pillared marbles rare, or knit across Let us be patient! These severe afflictions But oftentimes celestial benedictions Assume this dark disguise. We see but dimly through the mists and vapours, Amid these earthly damps; What seem to us but sad, funereal tapers May be heaven's distant lamps. We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him. -ST. MATTHEW ii. 2. BRIGHTEST and best of the sons of the morning, Dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid; Star of the East, the horizon adorning, Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid! Cold on His cradle the dew-drops are shining, Angels adore Him, in slumber reclining, Maker, and Monarch, and Saviour of all! Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion, Vainly we offer each ample oblation, Vainly with gifts would His favour secure ; Richer by far is the heart's adoration, Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor. Brightest and best of the sons of the morning, Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid! Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?-1 COR. iv. 7. Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Ye are not your own. Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.—1 ČOR. vi. II, 19, 20. ALL that I was-my sin, my guilt, My death-was all my own; The evil of my former state Was mine, and only mine ; The darkness of my former state, Thy grace first made me feel my sin, Then, in believing, peace I found, And now I live, I live. All that I am, even here on earth, When Jesus comes and glory dawns, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.-Ps. xxxii. 1, 2. THOUGH some good things of lower worth The love of God in Christ made known, My soul's Restorer, let me learn My treasure let me feel and see, Let me not dwell so much within My bounded heart with anxious heed, Where all my searches meet with sin, And nothing satisfies my need ; It shuts me from the sound and sight Of that pure world of life and light, Which has nor breadth, nor length, nor height. Let me Thy power, Thy beauty see; So shall my vain aspiring cease, And my free heart shall follow Thee I was not called to walk alone, To clothe myself with love and light; And for Thy glory, not my own, My evil heart can never be A home, a heritage for me; |