Be patient, though the sea be made The Lord is good: He still remains, GETTING TO THE WATCH-TOWER. 'I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved."— Habakkuk, ii. 1. OH, were this waiting, watching frame Yet more and more his inward ear Yet more and more his heart should feel 'Tis not by running to and fro, There must the Christian watch and pray, Waiting to hear what God shall say; There be instructed to reply When he shall be reprov'd on high. But thou hast watch'd and waited there, What said the Lord unto the seer, Oh, let not, then, thy faith be weak, That voice shall teach thee truths sublime. THE LUKEWARM THREATENED. "And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil."-Zephaniah, i. 12. ZION's children, sunk in ease, By the Lord ye shall be shaken. Say not in your hearts "from God What the paths by mortals trod, He, the Lord, no longer heedeth." Know ye, that the time draws nigh, He Jerusalem will search By his own illumination, He will visit yet his church, Proving every man's foundation. Shall the trumpet sound in Zion; You too, settled on your lees, Shall be rous'd by Judah's lion. For that trumpet will reveal Joy or woe for endless ages, And that lion will unseal Life's or death's eventful pages. A CALL TO BUILD THE LORD'S HOUSE. "Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house to lie waste?"-Haggai, i. 4. O YE, who in ceil'd houses live, Can you, escaping guilt and shame, Delay unto the Lord to give A habitation for his name? If thus the prophet spoke of yore, Whose hands were slack to build once more Doth not the Spirit now upbraid, Though with a voice of love divine, Hearts as reluctant, or afraid To rear a holier, purer shrine? Is now, To such, the language of the Lord My gifts and graces were not meant I Each one unto himself might live. gave them that mine eye might see Uprear'd, an edifice divine, And you the living stones should be To form this glorious house of mine. H |