FORGIVENESS.

WHEN on the fragrant sandal tree
The woodman's axe descends;
And she who bloomed so beauteously,
Beneath the keen stroke bends;

E'en on the edge that brought her death,
Dying she breathes her sweetest breath-

As if to token in her fall,

"Peace to her foes, and love to all." How hardly man this lesson learns, To smile, and bless the hand that spurns, To see the blow, and feel the pain,

But render only love again.

This spirit not to earth is given;
One had it but He came from heaven;
Reviled, rejected, and betrayed,

No curse He breathed, no plaint He made: But when in death's deep pang, He sighed, Prayed for His murderers-and died!

LABOUR.

PAUSE not to dream of the future before us,
Pause not to weep the wild cares that come o'er us;
Hark, how creation's deep musical chorus,

Unintermitting, goes up into heaven!
Never the ocean-wave falters in flowing;
Never the little seed stayeth its growing;
More and more richly the rose heart keeps glowing,
Till from its nourishing stem it is riven.
"Labour is worship!"-the robin is singing;
"Labour is worship!"-the wild bee is ringing;
Listen! that eloquent whisper upspringing,

Speaks to thy soul from out Nature's great heart. From the dark cloud flows the life-giving shower; From the rough sod blows the soft-breathing flower; From the small insect the rich coral bower;

Only man, in the plan, shrinks from his part.

Labour is life! 'Tis the still water faileth;
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth,

Keep the watch wound, for the dark rust assaileth;
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon.
Labour is glory!-The flying cloud lightens ;
Only the waving wing changes and brightens;
Idle hearts only the dark future frightens;

Play the sweet keys, would'st thou keep them in tune!

Labour is rest from the sorrows that greet us;
Rest from all petty vexations that meet us,
Rest from sin promptings that ever entreat us,

Rest from world-sirens that lure us to ill.

Work-and pure slumbers shall wait on thy pillow; Work-thou shalt ride over Care's coming billow; Lie not down wearied 'neath Woe's weeping willow! Work with a stout heart and resolute will!

Droop not, though shame, sin, and anguish are round thee!

Bravely fling off the cold chain that hath bound thee!
Look to yon pure heaven smiling beyond thee!
Rest not content in thy darkness—a clod!
Work!-for some good-be it ever so slowly!
Cherish some flower-be it ever so lowly!
Labour! All labour is noble and holy;

Let thy great deeds be thy prayer to thy God!

LET not the sweetness of contemplation be so esteemed, that action be despised: Rachel was more fair, Leah more fruitful. As contemplation is more delightful, so it is more dangerous: Lot was upright in the city, and wicked in the mountain.

OBEDIENCE.

IN the world nothing is more easy than to say our prayers, and to obey our superiors; and yet in the world there is nothing to which we are so unwilling as to prayer, and nothing seems so intolerable as obedience, for men esteem all laws to be fetters, and their superiors are their enemies: and when a command is given, we turn into all shapes of excuse to escape from the imposition; for either the authority is incompetent, or the law itself is not good; or it is impossible to be kept, or at least very inconvenient, and we are to be relieved in equity; or it does not bind in my particular case, or not now. Thus every man "snuffs up the wind, like the wild asses in the wilderness," and thinks that authority is an encroachment upon his birthright; and in the meantime never considers that Christ took upon Him our nature, that He might learn us obedience, and in that also make us become like unto God. He was pleased, at a great rate, to set forward this duty; and when Himself became obedient in the hardest point" obedient unto death," and is now become the Author and Finisher of our obedience, as well as our faith, we must needs confess it very possible to obey the severest of the Divine laws, even to die if God commands.

And this great example is of universal influence in

the whole matter of obedience, for Christ did obey and suffer according to the commands of His superiors, under whose government He was placed. He kept the orders of the rulers, and the customs of the synagogues, the law of Moses and the rites of the temple; and by so doing he fulfilled all righteousness. Christ made no distinction in His obedience; but obeyed God "in all things," and those that God set over him "in all things according to God," and in things of religion most of all: because to obey was of itself a great instance of religion; and if ever religion comes to be pretended against obedience, in anything where our superior can command, it is imposture.

GIVE not thy tongue too great a liberty, lest it take thee prisoner. A word unspoken is, like the sword in the scabbard, thine; if vented, thy sword is in another's hand. If thou desire to be held wise, be so wise as to hold thy tongue.

Ir evil men speak good, or good men evil, of thy conversation, examine all thy actions, and suspect thyself; but if evil men speak evil of thee, hold it as thy honour, and by way of thankfulness, love them; but upon condition that they continue to hate thee.