5 True wisdom, early sought and gained,"
In age will give thee rest;
O then improve the morn of life,
To make its evening blest.

L. M.

612.

Feed my Lambs!

1 WHILE yet the youthful spirit bears
The image of its God within,
And uneffaced that beauty wears,
Which may too soon be stained by sin,-

L. E. LANDON.

2 Then is the time for faith and love
To take in charge their precious care,-
Teach the young heart to look above,
Teach the young lips to speak in prayer.

3 The world will come with care and crime,
And tempt too oft that heart astray;
Still the seed sown in early time
Shall not be wholly cast away.

4 The infant prayer, the infant hymn,
Within the darkened soul will rise,
When age's weary eye is dim,
And the grave's shadow round us lies.

5 The infant hymn is heard again,
The infant prayer is breathed once more;
Reclasping thus the broken chain,
We turn to all we loved before.

434

613.

Songs of Children in Heaven.

1 THERE is a glorious world of light Above the starry sky,

C. M.

Where saints departed, clothed in white,
Adore the Lord most high.

2 And hark! — amid the sacred songs
Those heavenly voices raise,

Ten thousand thousand infant tongues
Unite in perfect praise.

J. TAYLOR.

3 Those are the hymns that we shall know If Jesus we obey;

That is the place where we shall go,
If found in wisdom's way.

L. M.

614.

The Call of Samuel.

CAWOOD.

1 IN Israel's fane, by silent night,
The lamp of God was burning bright;
And there, by viewless angels kept,
Samuel, the child, securely slept.

2 A voice unknown the stillness broke; "Samuel!" it called, and thrice it spoke; He rose; he asked whence came the word; From Eli? No, it was the Lord.

3 Thus early called to serve his God,
In paths of righteousness he trod;
Prophetic visions fired his breast,
And all the chosen tribes were blest.

4 Speak, Lord! and, from our earliest days,
Incline our hearts to love thy ways;
Thy wakening voice hath reached our ear:
Speak, Lord, to us; thy servants hear.

C. M.

615.

Teaching little Children.

1 O SAY not, think not, heavenly notes
To childish ears are vain, -

That the young mind at random floats,
And cannot reach the strain.

KEBLE.

2 Was not our Lord a little child,
Taught by degrees to pray,
By father dear and mother mild
Instructed day by day?

3 And loved he not of heaven to talk
With children in his sight,

To meet them in his daily walk,
And to his arms invite?

4 And though some tones be weak and low, What are all prayers beneath,

But cries of babes that cannot know
Half the deep thought they breathe?

5 In his own words we Christ adore;
But angels, as we speak,
Higher above our meaning soar
Than we o'er children weak.

6 And yet his words mean more than they, And yet he owns their praise;

O think not that he turns away
From infants' simple lays!

C. M.

616.

WATTS.

The aged Saint's Reflection and Hope. Psalm 71.

1 My God, my everlasting hope, I live upon thy truth;

Thine hands have held my childhood up, And strengthened all my youth.

2 Still has my life new wonders seen Repeated every year;

Behold my days that yet remain,
I trust them to thy care.

3 Cast me not off when strength declines, When hoary hairs arise;

And round me let thy glories shine,
Whene'er thy servant dies.

4 Let me thy power and truth proclaim
To the surviving age,
And leave a savor of thy name
When I shall quit the stage.

5 The land of silence and of death
Attends my next remove;
O may these poor remains of breath
Teach the wide world thy love.

1 As various as the moon
Is man's estate below;

To his bright day of gladness soon
Succeeds a night of woe.

The night of woe resigns
Its darkness and its grief·
Again the morn of comfort shines,
And brings our souls relief.

:

3

Yet not to fickle chance

Is man's condition given;

His dark and shining hours advance
By the fixed laws of Heaven.

4 God measures unto all
Their lot of good or ill;

Nor this too great, nor that too small,
Ordained by wisest will.

5 Let man conform his mind
To every changing state:
Rejoicing now, and now resigned,
And the great issue wait.

6 Hopeful and humble, bear
Thine evil and thy good:
Nor, by presumption nor despair,
Weak mortal, be subdued.

C. M.

618.

Man's Weakness.

1 WEAK and irresolute is man:
The purpose of to-day,
Woven with pains into his plan,
To-morrow rends away.

COWPER.

2 Some foe to his upright intent
Finds out his weaker part;
Virtue engages his assent,
But pleasure wins his heart.