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Good is it for Thy church's sake;
For he, thus taught to bear,

A pillar in that church shall make,
And show thy praises there.

And goodly is the portion still

Of him, whoe'er he be,

Who early knows thought, word, and will, Subjected unto Thee.

His shall be light in darkest hour,
His-patient waiting too;—

In Thy unfailing arm of power
His strength shall he renew.

He shall sit silently, alone,
His mouth as in the dust,

To see Thy holier hope made known,
In which is plac'd his trust.

To him, in Thy appointed time,
That hope shall yet appear,
Whose power, eternal and sublime,
Can cast out every fear.

A NEW HEART, AND A NEW SPIRIT.

'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."— Ezekiel, xxxvi. 26.

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CHRISTIAN, behold a simple test,

Which, in the light of truth, makes known, As God can only manifest,

Who are, and who are not his own.

What know'st thou of a heart thus chang'd?

Or is thine what it was of old,

From God and things divine estrang'd,

Obdurate, earthy, stony, cold?

What know'st thou of the holy birth
Of this new spirit, born within?
Is thine still fetter'd to the earth,
The sport of folly, slave of sin?

Trust not a name, whate'er it be,

If still thy nature be the same :—
The faith which wins no more for thee

Will prove, indeed, an empty name.

Turn inward to the work afresh,
Waiting and watching unto prayer;
So may'st thou know a heart of flesh
Thy stony one supplanting there.

Humbly implore, for Jesu's sake,

Whose name is yet with power endued, That through His grace thou may'st partake A spirit livingly renew'd.

No outward homage of the lip

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Can christian fellowship impart;

The badge of true discipleship

Is change of spirit, and of heart.

HOPE LEFT WHILE THE ROOT LIVES.

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Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven."- Daniel, iv. 15.

HATH not the vision now

Its sure interpretation? Are there not
Roots, bearing trunk nor bough,

ng in the earth, unseen, forgot?

Is there not, known to Thee,
Saviour and Lord, the church's living Head!

Full many a goodly tree

Whose early shoots by Thee were nurtur'd, fed ?

But when thou hadst a right

To look for fruit, on these no fruit was found:
Their beauty thou didst blight;

With brass and iron thou their root hast bound.

Such are existing yet,
Permitted in thy boundless love to live;
May heavenly dews still wet,

And tender grass its nourishment still give.

That so each hidden root

Spared by Thy mercy thus to live unseen,
In days to come may shoot,

And once more wave its branches fresh and green.

Thy hand, which did not spare The barren beauty of its earlier days,

May cause it yet to bear

Immortal fruit to Thy eternal praise.

THE FRAILTY OF MAN'S GOODNESS.

"O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away."-Hosea, vi. 4.

SUCH the transient influence now
Of too many a fervent vow;
Such in spirit and in span,

Goodness deem'd innate in man.

Like a morning cloud it flies,
Like the early dew up-dries,
Brief as bright, and frail as brief,
Like the changing Cistus' leaf.

Clouds which bear the welcome shower

Wait not on man's fancied power;

Dews that nourish where they fall
Come not when he deigns to call.

Blossoms time may not impair
Deathless Amaranths must bear;
And the goodness which shall live
God alone to man can give.

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