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Then on Thy everlasting strength
With passive trust I stay.

And the rough wind becomes a song
And darkness shines like day.

Oh, blessed are the eyes that see!
Though silent anguish show
The love, that in their hours of sleep
Unthanked may come and go :

And blessed are the ears that hear!
Though kept awake by woe.

There is no death for me to fear,
For Christ my Lord hath died;
There is no curse in this my pain,
For He was crucified.

And it is fellowship with Him
That keeps me near His side.

It is not hard to bear by faith,
In thine own bosom laid,
The trial of a soul redeemed,

For Thy rejoicing made.

Well may the heart in patience rest That none can make afraid.

Safe in Thy sanctifying grace,
Almighty to restore :

Borne onward-sin and death behind,

And love and life before.

Oh let my soul abound in hope

And praise Thee more and more!

Deep unto deep may call, but I
With peaceful heart will say—
Thy loving-kindness hath a charge

No waves can take away;

And let the storm that speeds me home

Deal with me as it may.

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E stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east

HE

wind.

Isa. xxvii. 8.

THE eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are

the everlasting arms.

Deut. xxxiii. 27.

TWENTY-FOURTH DAY.

The Hour of Darkness.

GOD hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies. His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle. He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me. My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I escaped with the skin of my teeth. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for

the hand of God hath touched me.

Why do ye persecute

me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.

Job xix. 6-14, 19-27.

God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: so that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness : then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth: he shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he

will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upor men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. Job xxxiii. 14-30.

Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.

Isa. l. 10.

We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon-day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead

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DAVID says, 'Mine enemies reproach me; while

they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?' Now observe, this feeling of being forsaken is no proof that we are forsaken. Mourning after an absent God is an evidence of love as strong as rejoicing in a present one. Nay, further, a man may be more decisively the servant of God, while doubting His existence, and in the anguish of his soul crying for light, than while resting in a common creed, and coldly serving Him.

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