THE NECESSITY OF SELF-ABASEMENT.

Not more in the sweet,
Than the bitter I meet,

My tender and merciful Lord.

This Faith, in the dark
Pursuing its mark,

Through many sharp trials of Love;

Is the sorrowful waste,

That is to be pass'd,

In the way to the Canaan above.

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THE NECESSITY OE SELF-ABASEMENT.

Vol. 3, Cantique 92.

SOURCE of Love, my brighter Sun,

Thou alone my comfort art;

See my race is almost run;

Hast thou left this trembling heart?

In my youth, thy charming eyes
Drew me from the ways of men;
Then I drank unmingled joys;
Frown of thine, saw never then.

Spouse of Christ was then my name ;
And, devoted all to thee,
Strangely jealous I became,
Jealous of this Self, in me.

Thee to love, and none beside,
Was my darling, sole employ;

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THE NECESSITY OF SELF-ABASEMENT.

While alternately I died,

Now of grief, and now of joy.

Through the dark and silent night,
On thy radiant smiles I dwelt;
And to see the dawning light,
Was the keenest pain I felt.

Thou my gracious teacher wert:
And thine eye, so close applied,
While it watch'd thy pupil's heart,
'Seem'd to look at none beside.

Conscious of no evil drift,
This, I cried, is Love indeed-
"Tis the Giver, not the gift,
Whence the joys I feel proceed.

But soon humbled, and laid low,
Stript of all thou hadst conferr'd,
Nothing left, but sin and woe,
I perceiv'd how I had err'd.

Oh! the vain conceit of man,
Dreaming of a good his own,
Arrogating all he can,

Though the Lord is good alone!

He, the graces Thou hast wrought,

Makes subservient to his pride;
Ignorant, that one such thought
Passes all his sin beside.

LOVE INCREASED. BY SUFFERING.

Such his folly-prov'd, at last,
By the loss of that repose
Self-complacence cannot taste,
Only Love divine bestows.

'Tis by this reproof severe,
And by this reproof alone,
His defects at last appear,
Man is to himself made known.

Learn, all Earth! that feeble man,
Sprung from this terrestrial clod,
Nothing is, and nothing can;
Life, and pow'r, are all in God.

LOVE INCREASED BY SUFFERING.

Vol. 3, Cantique 98.

"I love the Lord," is still the strain
This heart delights to sing;

But I reply, your thoughts are vain,
Perhaps 'tis no such thing.

Before the pow'r of Love divine,
Creation fades away;

Till only God is seen to shine

In all that we survey.

In gulphs of awful night we find
The God of our desires;

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LOVE INCREASED BY SUFFERING.

"Tis there he stamps the yielding mind,
And doubles all its fires.

Flames of encircling Love invest,
And pierce it sweetly through;
"Tis fill'd with sacred joy, yet press'd
With sacred sorrow too.

Ah Love! my heart is in the right-
Amidst a thousand woes,

To thee, its ever new delight,
And all its peace, it owes.

Fresh causes of distress occur,
Where'er I look or move;

The comforts, I to all prefer,
Are solitude and love.

Nor exile I, nor prison fear;
Love makes my courage great ;

I find a Saviour ev'ry where,
His grace, in ev'ry state.

Nor castle walls, nor dungeons deep,
Exclude his quick'ning beams;
There I can sit, and sing, and weep,
And dwell on heav'nly themes.

There, sorrow, for his sake, is found

A joy beyond compare ;

There, no presumptuous thoughts abound,
No pride can enter there.

SCENES FAVORABLE TO MEDITATION.

A Saviour doubles all my joys,
And sweetens all my pains,

His strength in my defence employs,
Consoles me, and sustains.

I fear no ill, resent no wrong:

Nor feel a passion move,

When malice whets her sland'rous tongue;
Such patience is in Love.

SCENES FAVORABLE TO MEDITATION.

Vol. 3, Cantique 83.

WILDS horrid and dark with o'ershadowing trees,

Rocks that ivy and briars infold,

Scenes, nature with dread and astonishment sees,
But I with a pleasure untold!

Though awfully silent, and shaggy and rude,
I am charm'd with the peace ye afford,
Your shades are a temple where none will intrude,
The abode of my Lover and Lord.

I am sick of thy splendor, O! fountain of day!
And here I am hid from thy beams,
Here safely contemplate a brighter display
Of the noblest and holiest themes.

Ye forests that yield me my sweetest repose,
Where stillness and solitude reign,

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