The prophet sought the precious tree
With prompt, obedient feet;
"Twas cast into the fount, and made
The bitter waters sweet.

Whene'er affliction o'er thee sheds
Its influence malign,

Then, sufferer, be the prophet's prayer
And prompt obedience, thine:
"Tis but a Marah's fount ordain'd
Thy faith in God to prove,

And prayer and resignation shall
Its bitterness remove.

G. W. DOANE.

VIII. THE LITTLE TEACHER.

"AND why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."-Matt. vi. 28, 29.

WITH dark foreboding thoughts opprest,

I wandered forth one summer day,
Hoping abroad to ease my breast,
And grief allay.

Deep in a lone and green retreat

I laid me down with many a sigh,
When lo, a daisy at my feet
Allured my eye.

Methought with sympathetic smile
It seemed to pity and reprove,
And thus my bitter care beguile
With words of love :-

"Sad mortal, cease these anxious sighs;
Why sit you thus in sorrow here?
Does not each leaf that meets thine eyes
Reprove thy fear?

"Although a mean unheeded flower,
My daily wants are all supplied;
And He who brought me to this hour
Will still provide.

TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR TO-MORROW.

"The light and dew, the sun and rain,
Are hourly sent to foster me,
And fearest thou God will not deign
To think on thee ?"

Ashamed I rose, rebuked my care,
And blessed the teacher of the sod,
Resolved to chase away despair,
And trust in God.

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S. W. PARTRIDGE.

IX. "TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR TO-MORROW." "DOES not God provide for all the birds and beasts and fishes? Do not the sparrows fly from their bush, and every morning find meat where they laid it not? Do not the young ravens call to God, and he feeds them? And were it reasonable that the sons of the family should fear the father would give meat to the chickens and the servants, his sheep, and his dogs, but give none to them? He were a very ill father that should do so; or he were a very foolish son that should think so of a good father."-Jeremy Taylor.

Lo, the lilies of the field,

How their leaves instruction yield!
Hark to nature's lesson given
By the blessed birds of heaven!
Every bush and tufted tree
Warbles sweet philosophy:

Mortal, fly from doubt and sorrow;
God provideth for the morrow!
Say, with richer crimson glows
The kingly mantle than the rose?
Say, have kings more wholesome fare
Than we poor citizens of air;
Barns nor hoarded grain have we,
Yet we carol merrily;

Mortal, fly from doubt and sorrow;
God provideth for the morrow!

ONE there lives whose guardian eye
Guides our humble destiny;
One there lives, who, Lord of all,
Keeps our feathers lest they fall:
Pass we blithely then the time,
Fearless of the snare and lime,
Free from doubt and faithless sorrow;
God provideth for the morrow!

HEBER.

X. HEAVEN.

"THERE is nothing in nature whose state and mode of being is not liable to change. Everything is the sport of frailty and inconstancy, and nothing is so durable as to continue always like itself. The most solid bodies are not so impenetrable, nor their parts so closely connected, as to be exempt from dissolution and destruction. Every particle of matter changes its form insensibly. * ** Reflections of this nature might well distress us, or even drive us to despair, if we could not derive support and consolation from religion. But this leads us to the only, invariable, and eternal Being, whose very nature is unchangeable. This immutable Being must be to eternity just what he is. Therefore his mercy endures for ever, and his righteousness from generation to generation.”—Sturm.

THIS world is all a fleeting show,

For man's illusion given:
The smiles of joy, the tears of woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow;

There's nothing true but heaven!

And false the light on glory's plume,
As fading hues of even;

And love, and hope, and beauty's bloom,
Are blossoms gather'd from the tomb;
There's nothing bright but heaven!

Poor wanderers of a stormy day,

From wave to wave we're driven;
And fancy's flash, and reason's ray,
Serve but to light the troubled way;
There's nothing calm but heaven!

MOORE.

XI. A HEBREW MELODY.

"THEN sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the

sea.

The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea, his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea," &c. Exodus xv. 1-19.

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB.

SOUND the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!'
Jehovah hath triumphed-his people are free!
Sing-for the pride of the tyrant3 is broken,

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His chariots and horsemen, all splendid and brave,
How vain was their boasting!-The Lord hath but spoken,
And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave.
Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea;
Jehovah has triumphed-his people are free!

Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the Lord,
His word was our arrow, his breath was our sword!
Who shall return to tell Egypt the story

Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride?
For the Lord hath looked out from his pillar of glory,*
And all her brave thousands are dashed in the tide.
Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea;
Jehovah has triumphed-his people are free!

MOORE.

XII. THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB.

"AND the Lord sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.

"Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side."-2 Chron. xxxii. 21, 22.

THE Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

BYRON.

XIII. CHILD'S EVENING PRAYER.

"WHEN you pray, study always to have your heart going along with the words that you utter; for, without the heart your words are vain and useless. It is also proper that you pray not only for yourselves, but also for others. You should pray that God would bless your parents, your brothers and sisters; all your friends, all your neighbours, all your brethren of mankind. And this you will not fail to do, if you truly love others as God commands you, and wish to see them holy and happy."- Thomson's Lessons.