"Stay, thou short-sighted child! Thy heart so long by sin defiled, Thy will must here be taught to bend to mine, Yea, Lord, but Thou can'st soon Perfect Thy work in me, Till, like the pure calm summer moon, A moment shine, that all Thy power may trace, 66 Ah, coward soul! confess Thou shrinkest from My cure, The foes on every hand for war arrayed; "The process slow of years, Of outward woes and secret tears, The idols taken from thee one by one, "Some gentle souls there are Who yield unto My love, Who, ripening fast beneath My care, I soon remove; But thou stiff-neckèd art and hard to rule, My Maker and my King! Is this Thy love to me? How can I bear the heavy weight of woes "Thou canst not, O my child, My arms shall be around thee day by day, "In sickness I will be Watching beside thy bed, In sorrow thou shalt lean on Me Thy aching head, In every struggle thou shalt conqueror prove, O grace beyond compare! O love most high and pure! Only vouchsafe Thy grace that I may Unto Thy glory who canst so forgive. live THE EXHORTATION. SECOND PART. Take therefore in good part the chastisement of the Lord: For (as Saint Paul saith in the twelfth chapter to the Hebrews) whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Ef ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence : shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. These words, good brother, are written in Holy Scripture for our comfort and instruction; that we should patiently, and with thanksgiving, bear our heavenly Father's correction, whensoever by any manner of adversity it shall please His gra= 97 cious goodness to visit us. And there should be no greater comfort to Christian persons than to be made like unto Christ, by suffering patiently adversities, troubles, and sicknesses. For He Himself went not up to joy, but first He suffered pain; He entered not into His glory before He was crucified. So truly our way to eternal joy is to suffer here with Christ; and our door to enter into eternal life is gladly to die with Christ; that we may rise again from death, and dwell with Him in everlasting life. Now therefore, taking your sickness, which is thus profitable for you, patiently, E exhort you, in the Name of God, to remember the professiou which you made unto God in your baptism. And forasmuch as after this life there is an account to be given unto the righteous Judge, by whom all must be judged, without respect of persons, E require you to examine yourself and your estate, both toward God and man; so that, accusing and condemning yourself for your own faults, you may find mercy at our heavenly Father's hand for Christ's sake, and not be accused and condemned in that fearful judgment. Therefore E shall rehearse to you the Articles of our Faith, that you may know whether you do believe as a Christian man should, or no. Take therefore in good part the chastisement of the Lord : WHA Elegiac Poems. ́HAT, many times I musing asked, is man, Keep far from him? he knows not what he can, He, till the fire hath purged him, doth remain To lack the loving discipline of pain Were endless loss. Yet when my Lord did ask me on what side The grief whereby I must be purified, As each imagined anguish did appear, Before my soul, I cried, "Oh! spare me here, Like one that having need of, deep within, Would hardly bear that it should graze the skin, |