WERE THIS WORLD ONLY MADE FOR ME!

UNTHINKING, idle, wild, and young,

I laughed, and danced, and talked, and sung;
And, proud of health, of freedom vain,
Dreamed not of sorrow, care, or pain;
Concluding, in those hours of glee,
That all the world was made for me.

But when the hour of trial came,

When sickness shook this trembling frame,
When folly's gay pursuits were o'er,
And I could sing and dance no more,
It then occurred, how sad 't would be
Were this world only made for me.

LOVE'S SELF-REPROACH.

THIS did not once so trouble me, That better I could not love Thee; But now I feel and know

That only when we love, we find How far our hearts remain behind The love they should bestow.

While we had little care to call
On thee, and scarcely prayed at all,
We seemed enough to pray :
But now we only think with shame
How seldom to thy glorious name
Our lips their offerings pay.

And when we gave yet slighter heed Unto our brother's suffering need,

Our hearts reproached us then Not half so much as now, that we With such a careless eye can see

The woes and wants of men.

Love's Self-Reproach.

In doing is this knowledge ours,—
To see what yet remains undone ;
With this our pride repress,
And give us grace, a growing store,
That day by day we may do more,
And may esteem it less!

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13

CAST THY BREAD ON THE WATERS.

Он be not faithless! with the morn,
Scatter abroad thy grain;

At noontide, —faint not thou forlorn ;

At evening, sow again!

Blessed are they, whate'er betide,

Who thus all waters sow beside.

Thou knowest not which seed shall grow,

Or which may die or live;

In faith and hope and patience, sow!
The increase God shall give,
According to his gracious will,
As best his purpose may fulfil.

EXAMPLE.

WE scatter seeds with careless hand,

And dream we ne'er shall see them more: But for a thousand years

Their fruit appears,

In weeds, that mar the land,

Or healthful store.

The deeds we do, the words we say,

Into still air they seem to fleet,

We count them ever past;

But they shall last,

In the dread judgment they

And we shall meet!

I charge thee by the years gone by,
For the love's sake of brethren dear,
Keep thou the one true way,

In work and play,

Lest in that world their cry

Of woe thou hear.