t the altar
With gloom in thy soul;
Nor let thy feet falter,
From terror's control!
God loves not the sadness
Of fear and mistrust;
Oh serve him with gladness--
The Gentle, the Just!

2 His bounty is tender,
His being is love,
His smile fills with splendor,
The blue arch above.
Confiding, believing,
Oh! enter always,
"His courts with thanksgiving--
His portals with praise!"

3 Nor come to the temple
With pride in thy mien;
But lowly and simple,
In courage serene.
Bring meekly, before him,
The faith of a child:
Bow down and adore him,
With heart undefiled.

966. L. M. Miss Carey.

Light and Darkness.

1 Our Father, when beside the tomb
We mourn the unconscious dead below,
Thy angels come amid the gloom,
With solace for our doubt and woe.
And looking through the shades of death
To that bright land where none can die,
How clearly then the eye of faith
Beholds the portals of the sky!

2 And they whose lives serenely even
In pleasure's flowery way have kept,
Have never known the love of heaven,
As they whose souls have mourned and wept!
For stricken by the hand of woe,
The soul must seek a Father's love,
And they who weep can only know
What healing balm is found above!

3 And one repentant hour of tears,
Of sweet communion and of prayer,
Is worth a thousand, thousand years
Where pleasure's thoughtless children are!
And O, if ever man below
Draws nearer to the eternal throne,
'Tis when his soul, subdued by woe,
Seeks refuge with its God above!

967. L. M. Sir J. E. Smith.

"It is I, be not afraid."

1 When Power Divine, in mortal form,
Hushed with a word the raging storm,
In soothing accents Jesus said,
"Lo, it is I!--be not afraid."

2 So, when in silence nature sleeps,
And his lone watch the mourner keeps,
One thought, shall every pang remove--
Trust, feeble man, thy Maker's love.

3 Blessed be the voice that breathes from heaven,
To every heart in sunder riven,
When love, and joy, and hope are fled,
"Lo it is I!--be not afraid."

968. L. M. Bowring.

Joy after Sorrow.

1 As, when the deluge-waves were gone,