ERE on my bed my limbs I lay,
God grant me grace my prayers to say:
O God! preserve my mother dear
In strength and health for many a year;
And, O! preserve my father too,
And may I pay him reverence' due;
And may I my best thoughts employ
To be my parents' hope and joy;
And O! preserve my brothers both
From evil doings and from sloth,'
And may we always love each other,
Our friends, our father, and our mother:
And still, O, Lord, to me impart3
An innocent and grateful heart.
S. T. COLERIDGE.
1 reverence, respect. 2 sloth, idleness. 3 impart, grant, give.
THE BEAUTIES OF CREATION.
ALL things bright and beautiful,
All creatures, great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The good God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.
The rich man in his palace,
The poor man at his gate;
God made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.1
The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God the Father,
Who has made all things well.
C. F. H. (abridged).
1 ordered their estate, appointed their station in life.
A LITTLE;-'tis a little word,
But much may in it dwell;1
Then let the warning truth be heard,
And learn the lesson well.
The way of ruin thus begins,
Down, down, like easy stairs;
If conscience suffers little sins,
Soon, larger ones it bears.
A little theft, a small deceit,
Too often leads to more;
'Tis hard at first, but tempts the feet
As through an open door.
Just as the broadest rivers run
From small and distant springs,
The greatest crimes that men have done, Have grown from little things.
The child who early disobeys,
Stands then, on slippery ground; And who shall tell, in future days, How low he may be found?
1 much may in it dwell. Little things often lead to great things; we sometimes speak of an action as little, not seeing that it will lead to great deeds, either good or evil.
ON the goods that are not thine
Take good heed thou lay no finger;
Round thy neighbour's better things
Let no wistful' glances linger.'
Pilfer not the smallest thing,
Touch it not howe'er thou need it.
Though the owner have enough,
Though he know it not, nor heed it.
Taste not the forbidden fruit,
Though resistance1 be a trial;
Grasping hand and roving eye,
Early teach them self-denial."
Upright heart, and honest name
To the poorest are a treasure,
Better than ill-gotten wealth,
Better far than pomp or pleasure.
Poor and needy though thou art,
Gladly take what God has given; With clean hands' and humble heart Passing through the world to heaven.
4 resistance, holding back, not yielding.
6 self-denial, to do without what you desire.
7 clean hands, honest hands.
8 pilfer, steal.
5 grasping, coveteous.
GREAT God, and wilt thou condescend1
To be my father and my friend,
I a poor child, and Thou so high,
The Lord of earth, and air, and sky.
Art Thou my Father?-let me be
A meek obedient child to Thee;
And try, in word, and deed, and thought,
To serve and please Thee as I ought.
Art Thou my Father?—Then at last,
When all my days on earth are past,
Send down and take me in Thy love,
To be a better child above.
CONSCIENCE.
WHEN a foolish thought within
Tries to take us in a snare,2
Conscience tells us, "It is sin,"
And entreats" us to beware.
1 condescend, stoop so low, be so good as.
2 take us in a snare, in a trap, lead us into evil. 8 entreats, begs.
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