LIX.

NINTH SUNDAY AFTER

TRINITY.

And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire, a still small voice. 1 Kings xix. 12.

IN troublous days of anguish and rebuke,

While sadly round them Israel's children look,

And their eyes fail for waiting on their Lord :
While underneath each awful arch of green,
On every mountain top, God's chosen scene
Of pure heart-worship, Baal is ador'd:

'Tis well, true hearts should for a time retire To holy ground, in quiet to aspire

Towards promis'd regions of serener grace;

On Horeb, with Elijah, let us lie,

Where all around on mountain, sand, and sky,

God's chariot-wheels have left distinctest trace:

There, if in jealousy and strong disdain

We to the sinner's God of sin complain,

Untimely seeking here the peace of heaven

"It is enough, O Lord! now let me die

"Even as my fathers did: for what am I

"That I should stand, where they have vainly "striven ?"

Perhaps our God may of our conscience ask,

"What doest thou here, frail wanderer from thy task? "Where hast thou left those few sheep in the wild a ?" Then should we plead our heart's consuming pain,

At sight of ruin'd altars, prophets slain,

And God's own ark with blood of souls defil'd;

He on the rock may bid us stand, and see
The outskirts of his march of mystery,

His endless warfare with man's wilful heart;

First, His great Power He to the sinner shews,

Lo! at His angry blast the rocks unclose,

And to their base the trembling mountains part:

Yet the Lord is not here: 'tis not by Power
He will be known-but darker tempests lower;

a 1 Sam. xvii. 28.

Still, sullen heavings vex the labouring gronnd: Perhaps His Presence thro' all depth and height, Best of all gems, that deck his crown of light,

The haughty eye may dazzle and confound.

God is not in the earthquake; but behold
From Sinai's caves are bursting, as of old,

The flames of His consuming jealous ire.
Woe to the sinner, should stern Justice prove
His chosen attribute;—but He in love

Hastes to proclaim, " God is not in the fire."

The storm is o'er-and hark! a still small voice
Steals on the ear, to say, Jehovah's choice

Is ever with the soft, meek, tender soul:
By soft, meek, tender ways He loves to draw
The sinner, startled by his ways of awe :

Here is our Lord, and not where thunders roll.

Back then, complainer; loath thy life no more,
Nor deem thyself upon a desert shore,

Because the rocks the nearer prospect close.
Yet in fallen Israel are there hearts and eyes
That day by day in prayer like thine arise:

Thou know'st them not, but their Creator knows.

Go, to the world return, nor fear to cast

Thy bread upon the waters, sure at last b

In joy to find it after many days.

The work be thine, the fruit thy children's part: Choose to believe, not see: sight tempts the heart From sober walking in true Gospel ways.

b Eccles. xi. 1.

LX.

TENTH SUNDAY AFTER

TRINITY.

And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it. St. Luke xix. 41.

WHY doth my Saviour weep

At sight of Sion's bowers?
Shows it not fair from yonder steep,
Her gorgeous crown of towers?

Mark well his holy pains:

"Tis not in pride or scorn,

That Israel's King with sorrow stains

His own triumphal morn.

It is not that his soul

Is wandering sadly on,

In thought how soon at death's dark goal

Their course will all be run,

Who now are shouting round

Hosanna to their chief;