WHAT, though an abundance around you is spread, Your fields stored with plenty, your garners with
Your store-house secured from chill poverty's frost, Yet, "gather the fragments, that nothing be lost."
See, Nature has loaded with blossoms her trees,
So richly, her treasures are filling the breeze;
But she spreads her green lap to the fast-falling
host,
And "gathers the fragments, that nothing be lost."
And when the rich fruit has been yielded for man, And bright glowing summer has lived her short span, When the autumn-seared leaves are by chilly winds tossed,
She will "gather the fragments, that nothing be lost.”
Now listen, my children: the lesson for you,
In all things it teaches, be careful and true;
O let not fair hopes be by negligence crossed,
But "gather the fragments, that nothing be lost."
And when the kind words of instruction you hear, From parent, from friend, or from teacher, give ear, And let not your thoughts in wild fancies be tossed, But "gather the fragments, that nothing be lost."
For God gives us nothing to trifle away,
But trusts us with blessings and time, day by day;
Be careful of all,-of each hour make the most,
And "gather the fragments, that nothing be lost."
Say not, "Here is plenty, and I need not fear;
I am sure not to want, so why should I care?"
Remember, the fruits are succeeded by frost:
Then "gather the fragments, that nothing be lost."
But confine not your thoughts to self-interest alone :
Let kind care for others come in with your own;
Go look at the poor, by sad sufferings crossed,
For them "gather fragments, that nothing be lost."
Remember, when Jesus the multitude fed
On a few little fishes and five loaves of bread; Although he could cause them to feed such a host, He said, "gather the fragments, that nothing be lost."
If thou hast ever felt that all on earth.
IF thou hast ever felt that all on earth
Is transient and unstable; that the hopes
Which man reposes on his brother man
Are oft but broken reeds; if thou hast seen
That life itself is "but a vapour," springing
From Time's upheaving ocean, decked perhaps
With here and there a rainbow, but full soon
To be dissolved and mingled with the vast
And fathomless expanse, that rolls its waves
On every side around thee;-if thy heart
Has deeply felt all this, and thus has learned
That earth has no security; then go
And place thy trust in God. The bliss of earth
Is transient as the coloured light that beams
In morning dew-drops. Yet a little while,
And all that earth can show of majesty,
Of strength or loveliness, shall fade away
Like vernal blossoms. From the conqueror's hand
The sceptre and the sword shall pass away,
The mighty ones of earth shall lay them down
In their low beds, and death shall set his seal
On beauty's marble brow, and cold and pale,
Bloomless and voiceless, shall the lovely ones,
Go to the "congregation of the dead."
Yea, more than this; the mighty rocks that lift
Their solemn forms upon the mountain heights,
Like Time's proud citadels, to bear the storms
And wreck of ages;—these too shall decay,
And Desolation's ivy hand shall wave
O'er all that thou canst see ;-blot out the suns
That shed their glory o'er uncounted worlds,
Call in the distant comets, from their wild
And devious course, and bid them cease to move,
And clothe the heavens in darkness.
Of God, his goodness and his grace, shall be
Unchanged, when all the world that he has made
Have ceased their revolutions. When the suns
That burn in yonder sky, have poured their last,
Their dying glory o'er the realms of space,
Still God shall be the same,-the same in love,
In majesty, in mercy;—then rely
In faith on Him, and thou shalt never find
Hope disappointed, or reliance vain.
Via Crucis, via
FROM THE GERMAN.
THROUGH night comes the morning; if darkness entomb,
With the veil of its horror, creation from sight, Never mind, never mind! after midnight's deep gloom
Comes the glory of sunrise, in love and in light.
Through storm comes the calm; when o'er earth and through heaven,
The hurricane's thunder-wheel echoing goes, Never mind, never mind! after storm-sounds are given,
Comes the stillness, the calmness, the peace of repose!
Through frost comes the spring; when the north wind sweeps past,
Benumbing the sap in the woodland and bowers, Never mind, never mind! after winter's fierce blast, Comes spring, whispering softly of leaves and of flowers!
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