CARE—CAREFUL.
And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.—Mark, iv. 19.
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.—I. Corinthians, xii. 25.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.—Philippians, iv. 6.
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.—I. Peter, v. 7.
Esteem none happy by their outward air;
All have their portion of allotted care,
Though wisdom wears the semblance of content,
When the full heart with agony is rent,
Secludes its anguish from the public view,
And by secluding, learns to conquer too;
Denied the fond indulgence to complain,
The aching heart its peace may best regain.
By love directed, and in mercy meant,
Are trials suffer’d, and afflictions sent;
To stem imperious passion’s furious tide,
To curb the insolence of prosperous pride,
To wean from earth, and bid our wishes soar
To that blest clime where pain shall be no more;
Where wearied virtue shall for refuge fly,
And every tear be wiped from every eye.
Hannah More.
The insect that with puny wing,
Just shoots along one summer ray;
The flow’ret, which the breath of spring
Wakes into life for half a day.
The smallest mote, the tenderest hair,
All feel our heavenly Father’s care.
E’en from the glories of His throne,
He bends to view this earthly ball;
Sees all as if that all were one,
Loves as if that one were all;
Rolls the swift planets in their spheres,
And counts the sinner’s lonely tears.
Cunningham.
Will then the merciful One, who stamped our race
With his own image, and who gave them sway
O’er earth, and the glad dwellers on her face,
Now that our flourishing nations far away
Are spread, where’er the moist earth drinks the day,
Forget the ancient care that taught and nursed
His latest offspring? will he quench the ray
Infused by his own forming smile at first,
And leave a work so fair all blighted and accursed?
Oh, no! a thousand cheerful omens give
Hope of yet happier days whose dawn is nigh.
He who has tamed the elements, shall not live
The slave of his own passions; he whose eye
Unwinds the eternal dances of the sky,
And in the abyss of brightness dares to span
The sun’s broad circle, rising yet more high,
In God’s magnificent works his will shall scan—
And love and peace shall make their paradise with man.
W. C. Bryant.
Father of earth and heaven,
Whose arm upholds creation,
To thee we raise the voice of praise,
And bend in adoration.
We praise the Power that made us,
We praise the love that blesses,
While every day that rolls away,
Thy gracious care confesses.
Henry Ware, Jun.
Faithful servant of the Lord,
Sower of the gracious Word,
Scattering thy seed abroad,—
Much of it will fall, and sink
Where the cattle come to drink,
Trodden in the river’s brink;
Much of it on bogs unsound,
Much on hard and stony ground,
Much where thorns and briers abound.
In the path of daily life
Worldly cares, like thorns, are rife,
Ever with the word at strife.
Egone.