Part 121 (1/2)

”The darkness gathers overhead, The morn will never come.”

Did we but raise our downcast eyes, In the white-flus.h.i.+ng eastern skies Appears the glowing sun.

In all our daily joys and griefs In daily work and rest, To those who seek him Christ is near, Our bliss to calm, to soothe our care, In leaning on his breast.

Open our eyes, O Lord, we pray, To see our way, our Guide; That by the path that here we tread, We, following on, may still be led In thy light to abide.

MAN

My G.o.d, I heard this day That none doth build a stately habitation But he that means to dwell therein.

What house more stately hath there been, Or can be, than is man? to whose creation All things are in decay.

More servants wait on man Than he'll take notice of: in every path He treads down that which doth befriend him, When sickness makes him pale and wan.

O mighty love! man is one world, and hath Another to attend him.

For us the winds do blow, The earth doth rest, heaven move, and fountains flow; Nothing we see but means our good, As our delight or as our treasure; The whole is either cupboard of our food, Or cabinet of pleasure.

The stars have us to bed; Night draws the curtain, which the sun withdraws; Music and light attend our head; All things unto our flesh are kind In their descent and being; to our mind, In their ascent and cause.

Since then, my G.o.d, thou hast So brave a palace built, O dwell in it That it may dwell with thee at last.

Till then, afford us so much wit That, as the world serves us, we may serve thee, And both thy servants be.

--George Herbert.

EVER WITH THEE

I am with thee, my G.o.d-- Where I desire to be: By day, by night, at home, abroad, I always am with thee.

With thee when dawn comes on And calls me back to care, Each day returning to begin With thee, my G.o.d, in prayer.

With thee amid the crowd That throngs the busy mart; I hear thy voice, when time's is loud, Speak softly to my heart.

With thee when day is done And evening calms the mind; The setting as the rising sun With thee my heart shall find.

With thee when darkness brings The signal of repose; Calm in the shadow of thy wings Mine eyelids gently close.

With thee, in thee, by faith Abiding I shall be; By day, by night, in life, in death, I always am with thee.

--James D. Burns, altered by J. M.

SELF-EXAMINATION

By all means use sometime to be alone.

Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear.

Dare to look in thy chest; for 'tis thine own; And tumble up and down what thou findst there.

Who cannot rest till he good fellows find, He breaks up homes, turns out of doors his mind.

Sum up by night what thou hast done by day; And in the morning, what thou hast to do.

Dress and undress thy soul; mark the decay And growth of it; if, with thy watch, that too Be down, then wind up both; since we shall be Most surely judged, make thy accounts agree.