BENEFIT.
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.—Psalm lxviii. 19.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.—Psalm ciii. 2.
Without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.—Philemon, 14.
Offered life
Neglect not, and the benefit embrace
By faith, not void of works.
Milton.
I gaze upon the thousand stars
That fill the midnight sky;
And wish, so passionately wish,
A light like theirs on high.
I have such eagerness of hope
To benefit my kind;
I feel as if immortal power
Were given to my mind.
Miss Landon.
Why are springs enthroned on high,
Where the mountains kiss the sky?
’Tis that thence their streams may flow,
Fertilizing all below.
Why have clouds such lofty flight,
Basking in the golden light?
’T is to send down genial showers
On this lower world of ours.
Why does God exalt the great?
’T is that they may prop the state;
So that toil its sweets may yield,
And the sower reap the field.
Riches why doth He confer?
That the rich may minister
To the children of distress,
To the poor and fatherless.
Does He light a Newton’s mind?
’T is to shine on all mankind.
Does He give to Virtue birth?
’T is the salt of this poor earth.
Josiah Conder.