Heights within thy pathway lie, Yet thou askest, Show the way! As the parched and barren land Bud and leaf in shrub and flower; 'Twas the Spirit placed it there; Would'st thou seek that each day's sun Though it owe its grace alone To the Heavenly Trainer's hand? Shining with a radiant light Christian, dost thou truly know "Tis for thee He waiteth there? Waits, to guide thy way below, There He stands, thy great High Priest There thy cries must sure prevail, Saviour, whose life, whose death was all for nie, Oh suffer me to yield myself to Thee And make me wholly Thine. Grant me to lie within Thy arms of love, From self entirely free, To anchor to the glorious Hope above, To trust my all to Thee. I'd be the helpless clay-the Potter Thou- In joyous yielding let my spirit bow, And bid my soul be still. I tremble not, though tossed on life's rough sea, Nor heed the breakers' roar; For every billow, guided, Lord, by Thee, But nears me to the shore, The further shore! Oh joy, I've anchored there! Steadfast, and sure, and strong! And Thou wilt guide and guard and safely bear Lord, 'tis enough, I am no more mine own, Child of God, it is for thee, This it is alone can give Strength for progress in the way. Till thou meet Him face to face. S. M. W. GOD'S MIGHTY POWER. JOHN xii. 21. It is a spiritual axiom, that nothing will win the soul but love; and Jesus is love embodied. It is only where the heart is thus drawn that there will be true obedience, and that obedience delightful. All obedience, all service, must be constraint, where the love of Christ is not the great motive. The heart knows of no sacrifice too great for the beloved One. Its joy is to lay down the most costly at its feet. It makes even drudgery delightful. Oh, if we want happy obedience to God's will, if we want the heart, the head, the hands, the feet, engaged in active service for the Lord, let Jesus be kept clear before the soul's view. No motive in earth or heaven so powerful as this. Nothing will break the bonds of sin so quickly asunder, nothing will burst the ties of the world, nothing will wean the soul so effectually from the shadows that are playing around it, as this. Commands will not draw, threatenings will not draw, promises will not draw; nothing will avail but a Saviour presented to the soul by the Spirit of God. As we "look unto Jesus," we may run with patience," but not otherwise. To begin with exhortations to obedience is beginning at the end. All service then is, at best, but duty or constraint. But let the Spirit of God only unveil to the soul the preciousness of Jesus, and how. soon all is changed! What a transformation in the once sluggish, slow-paced heart! How every motive is elevated and purified! How alacrity is stamped on every faculty, and the soul seems to breathe a new element ! What is the secret cause? A sight of Jesus. How vain it is to enforce commands or obedience without this! is made, no step taken. No wonder that no effort The heart has seen nothing better than what it how it grasps its foolish toy. If you attempt to wrest it from it, it will only grasp it more tightly; yea, every energy will be strained as if it were about to lose its costliest blessing. What can be done? Reason with it? What folly! Wrest it from its grasp ? You may do that, but its tears will only flow faster after the loss. What then? Hold up to its view another more attractive. How quickly the former is dropped, and how eagerly it extends its hand to the new prize! Man is but a child in grace. He must be treated as a child, or his soul will never be reached and won. Give up the world he will not. Set forward on the path of obedience |