126

GOD IS GOOD.

Draws back the curtain of the night,
And opens earth and sky?

"Tis thine, my God, - the same that kept
My resting hours from harm;
No ill came nigh me, for I slept
Beneath the Almighty's arm.

'Tis thine my daily bread that brings,
Like manna scattered round,
And clothes me, as the lily springs
In beauty from the ground.

In death's dark valley though I stray,
"T would there my steps attend,
Guide with the staff my lonely way,
And with the rod defend.

May that sure hand uphold me still
Through life's uncertain race,

To bring me to thy holy hill,
And to thy dwelling-place.

MONTGOMERY.

GOD IS GOOD.

GOD is good! each perfumed flower,
The smiling fields, the dark green wood,

GOD IS GOOD.

The insect, fluttering for an hour,

All things proclaim that God is good.

I hear it in each breath of wind;
Hills that have for ages stood,

And clouds, with gold and silver lined,
Are still repeating, God is good.

Each little rill, that many a year
Has the same verdant path pursued,
And every bird, in accents clear,

Joins in the song, that God is good.

The restless sea, with haughty roar,

Calms each wild wave and billow rude, Retreats submissive from the shore,

And swells the chorus, "God is good."

The countless hosts of twinkling stars
Sing his praise with light renewed;
The rising sun each day declares,.
In rays of glory, God is good.

The moon that walks in brightness, says
That God is good! - and man, endued
With power to speak his Maker's praise,
Should still repeat that God is good.

127

MRS. FOLLEN.

128

WHO TAKES CARE.

WHO TAKES CARE.

In winter where can be the flowers,
The leaves that look so green ?
There's not a bud in all the bowers,
Nor daisy to be seen.

And who will bring them back again,
When pleasant spring comes out?
And plant them up and down the lane,
And spread them all about?

And who will bring the little lambs
With wool as soft as silk,

And teach them how to know their dams,
And where to find the milk?

And who will teach the little birds

To build their nests on high,

And, though they cannot speak in words,
To teach their young to fly?

The Lord in Heaven-'t is there he dwells
Who all these things can do ;

And his own book, the Bible, tells

Much more about Him too.

SACRED SONGS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

FLOWERS.

129

FLOWERS.

GOD might have made the earth bring forth
Enough for great and small,

The oak-tree, and the cedar-tree,
Without a flower at all.

He might have made enough, enough want of ours;

For every

For luxury, medicine, and toil,

And yet have made no flowers.

The clouds might give abundant rain,
The nightly dews might fall,
And the herb that keepeth life in man,
Might yet have drunk them all.

Then wherefore, wherefore were they made,
And dyed with rainbow light,
All fashioned with supremest grace,
Upspringing day and night?

Springing in valleys green and low,
And on the mountains high;
And in the silent wilderness,
Where no man passes by?

130

CHILDREN IN CHURCH.

Our outward life requires them not,
Then wherefore had they birth?
To minister delight to man;
To beautify the earth;

To comfort man, to whisper hope
Whene'er his faith is dim;

For whoso careth for the flowers,
Will care much more for him!

MARY HOWITT.

CHILDREN IN.CHURCH.

WHEN to the house of God we go,
To hear his word and sing his love,
We ought to worship him below,
As saints and angels do above.

They stand before his presence now,
And praise him better far than we,-

Who only at his footstool bow,

And love him whom we cannot see.

But God is present everywhere,

And watches all our thoughts and ways:
He marks who humbly join in prayer,

And who sincerely sing his praise.