When the cold east wind sweepeth past,

Thy hand shall stay the withering blast;
E'en as the day our strength shall be,
Suited to our necessity.

Oh! teach us while we sojourn here,
So Thou art nigh to feel no fear,

To lean upon Thy faithful breast,

And find in Thee a perfect rest.

COMPASSION.

"For He knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust."-Psalm ciii. 14.

OUR Father knows these mortal frames, for

He,

Eternal Architect, the fabric wrought.

Ere from the dust He formed man to be

A living soul, He knew his every thought.

He marks the heaving sigh, the quiv'ring tear That trembles in the sad and anxious eye;

He knows the yearning hope, the with'ring fear

That sears the heart with blighting agony;
All this, and more, far more his eye can see,
Deep in the hidden chambers of the soul;
There's not a thought, unuttered though it be;
Beyond the region of His vast control.
Mercy's His attribute, His name is love,

He hears His suffering children when they

cry,

His peaceful Spirit, as a radiant dove,

Folds His bright wings, and soothes their misery.

Jesus, my Saviour-God, to Thee I cling,

I know Thy love, Thy boundless sympathy; Swift as the home-bound bird, my soul shall spring

From earth below, and wing her way to Thee.

ELIJAH.

"And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

"And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away.

"And He said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by; and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

"And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

"And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out; and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold,

there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

"And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away. "And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus.

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"Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."

1 Kings, xix. 9—15; 18.

THE slaughter is over by Kishon's dark stream, And the stern scene has passed as a terrible dream.

But the banks are all gory, and purple the

tide,

For the blood of the victims its water has

dyed;

And there lie the bodies unsheltered and bare, For the beasts of the forest, and fowls of the

air,

Who hover around them, and search for their

prey,

With no hand to molest them, or scare them

away.

The prayer has been heard, breathed on Carmel's high mount,

By Elijah the Tishbite, and lo! the deep fount Of Heaven is opened, and thick falls the shower,

Restoring the verdure of foliage and flower; But alas! for man's frailty, the prophet has

fled

From the face of a woman, in cowardly dread. And afar in the desert his steps have been roaming,

In the brightness of day, and by twilight's dim gloaming;

He stood by a cave on the mount of the Lord,

And awaited in slience the breath of His word.