A BIRTHDAY WISH.
Life is before you, friend of mine;
What it may bring we cannot divine;
The path outspread is all untrod;
Unknown are its windings to all but God.
The sun will shine with its gladsome ray,
And sometimes clouds overshadow the day;
Your heart may be lifted with joy untold;
But remember the same is not yours to hold.
At your bidding it comes not, nor does it stay;
But when One speaks it flies away;
And why is this? That One is Love,
And seeks to lead your heart above.
Were earthly happiness all your own,
You never would wish a heavenly throne;
So joys are given, they come, and end,
As seemeth best to our Lord and Friend.
Then let us entrust them to His care,
And of thinking them ours to keep, beware;
Let us seek in the gift the Giver to see,
And trust to His love and wise decree.
Should sorrow and sadness our path attend,
And dark seem the way to our journey's end,
Let us look above to the Hand that guides,
And trust His love whatever betides.
No sorrow is sent with purposeless aim,
But each has its destined end to gain;
He loves us so dearly, and shed His blood
To lead us up to the throne of God.
And think you that He would afflict His child
With needless pains in this desert wild?
No; though all that's sent we can't understand,
Let us never distrust the guiding Hand.
His wisdom is perfect, His love divine,
And changeth not with the flight of time;
To the trustful heart that resteth in Him
He has promised joys that never shall dim.
A quiet peace surrounds its path,
Surpassing all that the worldling hath;
May this be yours in that winding way;
May it lead you up to the "perfect day."
Lewarn Clayton.
INSECURITY OF PALESTINE.
"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."—Psalm cxxvi. 5.
The farmer in Palestine had frequently to sow with an armed man attending him, to prevent his being robbed of his seed. A similar state of danger appears still to prevail. Tristram, in his "Land of Israel," says:—
"In descending the hill from Bethany we saw an illustration of the wretched insecurity of the country, in a drove of donkeys laden with firewood for Jerusalem. Each ass was attended by a man armed to the teeth with pistols, sword, and a long gun; and in one little valley—the only one beyond Bethany where there was any cultivation—each ploughman was holding his firelock in one hand while he guided the plough with the other."