THE OLD YEAR'S BLESSING. I AM fading from you, but one draweth near If my gifts and graces coldly you forget, For we work together; he and I are one; I brought Good Desires, though as yet but seeds; I brought Joy to brighten many happy days; If I gave you Sickness, if I brought you Care, Where I brought you Sorrow, through his care at length It may rise triumphant into future Strength. If I brought you Plenty, all wealth's bounteous charms, Shall not the new Angel turn them into Alms? I gave health and leisure, skill to dream and plan; If I broke your Idols, showed you they were dust, If I brought Temptation, let Sin die away If your list of Errors dark and long appears, May you hold this Angel dearer than the last, December 31 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth, and even forevermore.-Ps. cxxi. 8. D° O we thirst for God? As the days and months and years pass, do we ever look out of and beyond ourselves upon that vast ocean of Uncreated Life which encircles us, which penetrates our inmost selves? Do we ever think steadily, so as to dwell with a real intellectual interest, upon Him who is the first and highest of Truths, to whose free bounty we ourselves owe the gift of existence, and to whom we must one day account for our use of it? Do we ever sincerely desire to love Him, and to live for Him, or are we hurrying along our solitary path, from one vanishing shape towards another, while we neglect the Alone Unchangeable? Be sure that if we will, in God revealed in Christ, the soul may slake the thirst of the Ages; and the dreariest, and darkest, and most restless existence may find illumination and peace. "This God is our God forever and ever. He will be our Guide even unto death," and beyond it. To each of us now this, if we will; if we will, He will be forever to each the Eternal Truth, wherein thought can never find its limit; the Uncreated Beauty, "Most Ancient, but always Fair," whereof affection can never tire; the Perfect Rule, existing eternally in the Life of the Necessary Moral Being, whereunto each created will may perpetually confirm itself, yet never exhaust its task. Without this Awful and Blessed Being man has no adequate object, even during these days of his brief earthly existence; his thought, his affection, his purpose spring up, and are exercised only that they may presently waste and die. With God the human soul not merely interprets the secret of the universe; it comprehends and is at peace with itself. In God is the satisfaction of its thirst, He is the Object of religion. CANON LIDDON. A PSALM FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE. A FRIEND stands at the door; In either tight-closed hand Hiding rich gifts, three hundred and threescore ; Even as seed the sower. Each drops he, treads it in, and passes by: O good New Year, we clasp This warm shut hand of thine, Loosing forever, with half sigh, half gasp, That which from ours falls like dead fingers' twine: Ay, whether fierce its grasp Has been, or gentle, having been, we know That it was blessed : let the Old Year go. O New Year, teach us faith! The road of life is hard: When our feet bleed, and scourging winds us scathe, Than any man's; who saith, "Make straight paths for your feet," and to the opprest, "Come ye to Me, and I will give you rest." Yet hang some lamp-like hope Above this unknown way, Kind year, to give our spirits freer scope And our hands strength to work while it is day. But if that way must slope Tombward, oh, bring before our fading eyes The lamp of life, the Hope that never dies. Comfort our souls with love, Love of all human kind; Love special, close, in which, like sheltered dove, And love that turns above Adoringly, contented to resign All loves, if need be, for the Love Divine. Friend, come thou like a friend, And whether bright thy face, Or dim with clouds we cannot comprehend, Knowing thou leadest onwards to those spheres INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF POETICAL QUOTATIONS. A CLOUD lay cradled near the setting sun A cloudy morning, and a golden eve A few months ago. A friend stands at the door A leaden sky is bending dark. A little bird I am. A little pause in life, while daylight lingers. A perfect day! I tried to hold it fast A single sparkling drop of love divine Ah! don't be sorrowful, darling. All are not taken! there yet are left behind All day fierce heat had held the quivering earth All day the wind had howled along the leas All through the night All weary thought and care PAGE 264 309 170 428 402 81 9 124 322 337 149 386 243 49 249 234 368 Alone, yet not alone am I. 299 And after He has come to hide 215 And is there care in heaven? And is there love. 193 And so beside the silent sea. 70 And were that best, Love, dreamless, endless sleep. At evening time let there be light At first I prayed for light; could I but see the way Bethink thee, while the tears do run Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies Blindfolded and alone I stand Blow, winds of God, awake and blow Briers beset my every path Brightest and best of the sons of the morning Come, little snow-drop, struggle on through dark and cling- 420 265 13 165 Come, wandering sheep, oh, come! 118 Could I recall the years that now are flown. DEATH comes to take me where I long to be 182 86 Do saints keep holy day in heavenly places? Farewell, Old Year, the rustle of whose garment Father of heaven! if by Thy mercy's grace. 37 Feeling the way- and all the way up hill 126 Fierce was the wild billow, dark was the night 274 Flowers! when the Saviour's calm benignant eye "For this true nobleness I seek in vain " From slender minaret, 'twixt earth and sky. 217 50 |