ssions, all be still!
Nor let one murmuring thought arise;
His ways are just, his counsels wise.

2 He in the thickest darkness dwells,
Performs his work,--the cause conceals;
But though his methods are unknown,
Judgment and truth support his throne.

3 In heaven, and earth, and air, and seas,
He executes his firm decrees;
And by his saints it stands confessed
That what he does is ever best.

629. C. M. Burder's Coll.

Rejoicing in Adversity.

1 What though no flowers the fig-tree clothe
Though vines their fruit deny,
The labor of the olive fail,
And fields no meat supply;--

2 Though from the fold, with sad surprise,
My flock cut off I see;
Though famine reign in empty stalls,
Where herds were wont to be;--

3 Yet in the Lord will I be glad,
And glory in his love;
In him I'll joy, who will the God
Of my salvation prove.

4 God is the treasure of my soul,
The source of lasting joy--
A joy which want shall not impair,
Nor death itself destroy.

630. C. M. Anonymous.

"Blessed are they that mourn."

1 In trouble and in grief, O God,
Thy smile hath cheered my way;
And joy hath budded from each thorn
That round my footsteps lay.

2 The hours of pain have yielded good,
Which prosperous days refused;
As herbs, though scentless when entire,
Spread fragrance when they're bruised.

3 The oak strikes deeper as its boughs
By furious blasts are driven;
So life's vicissitudes the more
Have fixed my heart in heaven.

4 All-gracious Lord! whate'er my lot
In other times may be,
I'll welcome still the heaviest grief,
That brings me near to thee.

631. L. M. Bowring.

God Merciful in Affliction.

1 Mysterious are the ways of God,
And fear and blindness oft repine;
We murmur 'neath his chastening rod,
Because we read not his design.

2 Impending clouds his love has spread
O'er this low vale where mortals dwell;
And oft we mourn his spirit fled,
When adverse tempests round us swell.

3 But in those storms that sometimes roll,
Our mortal dwellings dark above,
Whose threatening shades dismay the soul,
Dwells the bright presence of his love.

4 We cannot see hi