Be sure a wiser hand than yours or mine
Pours out the potion for our lips to drink;
And if some friend we love is lying low,
Where human kisses can not reach his face,
Oh, do not blame the loving Father so,
But wear your sorrows with obedient grace.

And you shall shortly know that lengthened breath
Is not the sweetest gift God sends his friend,
And that, sometimes, the sable pall of death
Conceals the fairest boon his love can send.
If we could push ajar the gates of life,
And stand within and all God's workings see,
We could interpret all this doubt and strife,
And for each mystery could find a key.

But not to-day. Then be content, poor heart;
God's plans like lilies pure and white unfold;
We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart,
Time will unfold the calyces of gold.
And if, through patient toil, we reach the land
Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest
When we shall clearly know and understand,
I think that we shall say, "God knew the best!"

THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT.

In the Bible we learn of a woman who took "a pound of ointment of
spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus." This spikenard
was very rich in perfume. It was the very best gift she could bring to
Him whom she loved. This is a very beautiful symbol of the life work of
a Christian. We, as Christian, are a sweet odor unto God in Christ
Jesus. Everything you do for Jesus scents the air around the throne of
God with a sweet fragrance.

Every prayer your offer in the Spirit perfumes the corridors of heaven.
I read somewhere of a little girl who told her mamma that God bade all
the angels in heaven keep quiet when she prayed; then all the angels
hushed their songs until she said amen. Amid all the songs and shouts
and playing of harps in heaven God hears the prayers of his humble ones
on earth. The odor of prayer from the hearts of God's children on earth
is as sweet to him as the songs of angels. The things the saints at
Philippi sent to Paul were an odor of a sweet smell to God. Cornelius'
alms-giving and prayers were kept in heaven as a memorial. So all your
gifts and doings and prayers are a rich perfume, which God keeps bottled
up in heaven as a memorial of you.

Your whole life, dear young saint, in all of its giving and doing, its
sacrifices and prayers, its humble service and devotion, is to be
constantly sending forth a sweet smell to God. This is spoken of in a
beautiful figure in S.