M

THE WAY OF PEACE.

Y heart was weary with a woe I strove to rid me of in vain ; No respite did my spirit know; Each day but added to my pain: It was the heavy weight of sin That burdened all my soul within.

And far and wide around I sought
Some friend to take my load away;
But none availed to ease me aught,
And I was powerless as they,

And still my anguish more and more,
With growing power, oppressed me sore.

I saw far off the happy home

Where God among His saints resides, Where sin and grief can never come,

And peace eternally abides;

While on my ear fell faint but sweet
The hymns the ransomed host repeat.

Thrice weary then, with tearful eyes,
I gazed upon the blessed band
Who taste the endless joys that rise
Within that everlasting land:

A longing rose within my breast
To reach that home and be at rest.

In eager haste I strove to find
Some pathway to the holy place,
And, leaving all I had behind,

I steadfast towards it set my face,
And took the nearest, straightest road
That led to that divine abode.

But when at length the gate I neared
Of the bright realm I sought to win,
A man of awful mien appeared,

Who said I might not enter in,
That while I bore my load of care
I could not gain admittance there.

Hopeless and helpless, sick at heart,
I sat me down the road beside,
And mourned my sad and bitter part
With tears that would not be denied,
And cursed, as evil in God's sight,
The day when first I saw the light.

When, lo! I felt a gentle hand,

And, looking up with weeping eyes, Beheld a man before me stand

Of humble look and simple guise, And yet there sat upon his face

A beautiful, unearthly grace.

He asked my grief-I told him all—

He bade me rise and follow him

I rose, obedient to his call,

And, though my eyes with tears were dim,

B

There was such sweetness in his voice,
It made my troubled heart rejoice.

Straight from that spot he took me back
O'er all the road I late had been,

And led me by a devious track,
Which never I before had seen,
Until we reached a lowly gate,
At which he bade me knock and wait.

I knocked and waited—opening quick,
The narrow gate a path disclosed,
Stony and rough, with brambles thick,
By overhanging rocks enclosed.

In anger then I turned again,

And asked why thus he mocked my pain.

With searching glance he looked at me,
Half pitiful and half severe,

And asked if I indeed would be

Rid of my weight of guilt and fear, And said that through no gate but this Could I attain the realm of bliss.

He told me how, in suff'ring sore,

Himself had traced that path along,

Which none had ever trod before,

Though since had passed a countless throng.

His name I questioned of my guide—

He told me,

"Christ the crucified."

Abashed before His feet I fell

He bade me rise, my course pursue-
But I was fain my tale to tell,

And graciously He heard me through—
I owned my guilt, confessed my sin,
Bent my proud head, and entered in.

And, as I journey on my way,

Through cloud and sunshine, smiles and tears, Nearer and clearer, day by day,

The goal of all my hopes appears ; And, though the path is rough to me, My heart is light, my soul is free.

UPWARD AND ONWARD.

"Faint, yet pursuing.”—Judges viii. 4.

RT thou worn and weary,

ART

Child of earth and sin?

Is the prospect dreary,

And the heart within?
Do thy work and mission
Fruitless prove to thee,

And thy hopes a vision
That but seems to flee?

Up, and break the fetter
Of each dark delay!
Waiting for the better,
Labour day by day!

Soon the seed shall render
Its unfailing yield,

In the wealth and splendour
Of the harvest-field!

Art thou faint and fearful

In the fight of life,
Though so brave and cheerful

In thine early strife?

Art thou gazing round thee

For the means to fly?

Have new terrors found thee,

And the fear to die?