Thou must in him be blest
Ere bliss can be secure;
On his works must thou rest
If thy work shall endure.
To anxious, prying thought,
And weary, fretting care,
The highest yieldeth naught:
He giveth all to prayer.

Father, thy faithful love,
Thy mercy, wise and mild,
Sees what will blessing prove,
Or what will hurt thy child;
And what thy wise foreseeing
Doth for thy children choose
Thou bringest into being,
Nor sufferest them to lose.

Hope, then, though woes be doubled;
Hope and be undismayed;
Let not thy heart be troubled,
Nor let it be afraid.
This prison where thou art--
Thy God will break it soon,
And flood with light thy heart
In his own blessed noon.

Up! up! the day is breaking;
Say to thy cares, Good night!
Thy troubles from thee shaking
Like dreams in day's fresh light.
Thou wearest not the crown,
Nor the best course can tell;
God sitteth on the throne
And guideth all things well.

--Paul Gerhardt, tr. by Elizabeth Rundle Charles.

THE SILVER LINING

There's never a day so sunny
But a little cloud appears,
There's never a life so happy
But has its time of tears;
Yet the sun shines out the brighter
Whenever the tempest clears.

There's never a garden growing
With roses in every plot;
There's never a heart so hardened
But has one tender spot;
We have only to prune the border
To find the forget-me-not.

There's never a sun that rises
But we know 'twill set at night;
The tints that gleam in the morning
At evening are just as bright;
And the hour that is the sweetest
Is between the dark and light.

There is never a cup so pleasant
But has bitter with the sweet;
There is never a path so rugged,
Bearing not the print of feet,
But we have a helper furnished
For the trials we may meet.

There is never a way so narrow
But the entrance is made straight,
There is always a guide to point us
To the "little wicket gate."
And the angels will be nearest
To a soul that's desolate.

There is never a heart so haughty
But will some day bow and kneel;
There is never a heart so wounded
That the Saviour cannot heal;
There is many a lowly forehead
Bea