So He bringeth them to their desired haven.......... 165

Who shall make that straight, which God hath made

SELECTIONS

OF

RELIGIOUS POETRY.

RETIREMENT AND PRAYER.

"And He withdrew into the wilderness to pray."

IF thus our Lord withdrew,

Stealing at times away,

E'en from the loved and chosen few,

In solitude to pray,

How should His followers frail and weak,

Such seasons of communion seek.

Seldom amid the strife and din

Of sublunary things,

Can spirits keep their watch within,
Or plume their heaven-ward wings.

(9)

HYPL

He must dwell deep indeed whose heart
Can thus fulfil true wisdom's part.

Not in our own spontaneous will
Can we the world 'shut out,
Say to our passions, peace be still,
Or check each rising doubt;
Alone, by prayer 'tis slowly won,
In the world's throng too rarely done.

How needful is it then for man

From things of time to steal,

Those of Eternity to scan,
Their magnitude to feel?
The first are transitory, vain,
The last forever will remain.

Retirement must adjust the beam,
And prayer must poise the scales,
Our Guide, Example, Head supreme
In neither lesson fails.

Oh! may we in remembrance bear
He loved retirement, practised prayer.

HE CARETH FOR YOU.

"Casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you."--1 Pet. v. 7.

WHAT is it to cast the care on God?
Is it to keep the heaviest load,

And lay some trifling weight aside,
Still taking thought for every hour,
As if the Lord's sustaining power,
Were still unknown-at least untried?

Is it to shrink at future things,
To start at what the present brings,
And groan, when we but fear the rod,

Not to rejoice till we receive,
And only when we see, believe,

Is this to cast the care on God?

No, the believer doth not so—
As Shiloh's waters softly go,

He keeps his smooth and even way:

No evil tidings doth he fear;
His heart is fixed, his help is near,
His strength is equal to his day.

Before he started for his crown,
He laid a heavy burden down,

A weight the pilgrim could not bear;
His foes without, his fears within,
His griefs, his weakness and his sin,
And every thing that caused his care.

Should doubts arise, should ills betide,
God will protect, God will provide,

He saith and pondering in his breast
The promise of his faithful Lord,
He doth believe his plighted word,
And so, he enters into rest.)