Never ask a favour of a man until he has dined, unless you wish to get refused.

The greatest gift we can bestow upon others is a

good example.

62. GOD AND HIS DISPENSATION.

GOD.

There is but one in all the world, none else.
That one is God, the Lord of all that is,
He never had beginning, never hath an end.
Oh God! I once knew not of what Thou art,
And wandered far astray. But when thy light
Pierced through my dark, I woke to know my God.
Oh Lord! I long for thee alone. I long
For none but Thee to dwell within my soul.*

There is one God-one only,-mark!
To Him is all our service due.
Hath He a shape, or hath He none?
I know not this, nor care to know,
Dwelling in light, to which the sun
Is darkness,-He sees all below,
Himself unseen! In Him I trust,
He can protect me if He will,
And if this body turn to dust,
He can new life again instil.†

-TORU DUTT.

God is nigh to thee, He is with thee, He is in thee.

-SENECA.

* A Tamil Song, from the Folksongs of Southern India, by Charles E. Gover.

From Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustân.

God created the universe, but He has not gone away from the universe. He liveth among us; He dwelleth in our home; He is present with us in all the vast and varied concerns of life; wherever we are He is with us. He does not stand in the same relation to the world as the watchmaker does to the watch. The Lord animates all the movements of the physical world-He quickens all the spiritual movements of mankind.

-KESHUB CHUNDER SEN.

Where'er we turn our wondering eyes,

His power and skill we see;

Wonders on wonders grandly rise,
And speak the Deity.

The Lord of all, himself through all diffused,
Sustains and is the life of all that lives.

-COWPER.

God is everywhere! the God who framed
Mankind to be one mighty family,

Himself our Father, and the world our home.

COLERIDGE.

THE CREATOR'S WORK.

There's not a star whose twinkling light

Illumines the distant earth,

And cheers the solemn gloom of night,

But mercy gave it birth.

There's not a cloud whose dews distil

Upon a parching clod,

And clothe with verdure vale and hill,

That is not sent by God.

*

There's not a place in earth's vast round,
In ocean deep, or air,

Where skill and wisdom are not found,
For God is everywhere,

Around, beneath, below, above,

Where'er space extends,

There Heaven displays its boundless love,

And power with mercy blends.

OMNIPOTENCE.

The spacious firmament on high,

With all the blue ethereal sky,

-WALLACE.

And spangled Heavens, a shining frame,

Their great Original proclaim;

The unwearied sun, from day to day,

Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land,
The book of an Almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And, nightly, to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;

Whilst all the stars that round us burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,

And spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though, in solemn silence, all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball,
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found;
In Reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,

For ever singing as they shine,

"The hand that made us is Divine !"

-ADDISON.

Clothed in majesty sublime,

And girt with strength th'

Almighty reigns;

And, through the wreckful course of time,
His hand the steadfast world sustains.

Wide doth the mighty thunder fill
The darken'd earth with dread dismay,
But mightier far is He whose will
The lightning and the storm obey.

Deep, heaving under land and sea,
The earthquake uttereth his sound,
Awful though low; more awful He,
Who holds its rage in prison bound.

The powerful billows, huge and grand,
Rise swelling from the troubled main,
More powerful is the powerful hand
That doth their threatening rage restrain.

O Lord, adored! from race to race,
Men shall thy righteous laws proclaim,
And holiness become the place

Call'd by Thy great and glorious name.

-J. BAILLIE.

Blest be yon viewless spirit thron'd on high,
No heart's too wretched to attract His eye;
No lot too lowly to engage His love,
And win the smile of mercy from above!
He gazes on the speechless couch of wo,
And bids the dying light of hope to glow,