(Matt. 16:24,25.)

I

Life is not easy, nor its burden light.
O blessed Lord, 'tis meet it should not be,
For Thou hast suffered in this vale of tears,
Where now we wait till Thou shalt come and call
To that blest home where rest eternal reigns.
Meanwhile 'tis well for us to suffer here,
That fellowship with Thee may be our joy,
And we of greater fitness be possessed
To dwell with Thee in that bright scene of bliss
When life is but one long sabbatic day.

II

Life is not easy, nor its burden light:
Nor should it be, O blessed Lord, our life,
Since for Thyself its every step didst prove
A drought from sorrow's cup, till at the last
Thou drankest up the cup of righteous wrath,
For all the sin from which the sorrow came
That strews life's highway with the wrecks of shame.
O Man of griefs! that broken and subdued,
Our hearts may fully be controlled by Thee,
And find their rest in fellowship with Thee.

III

Life is not easy, nor its burden light,
And neither would we seek it, Lord, to be.
For otherwise we could not then obtain
Sweet fellowship with Thee in suffering loss
In this dark scene, where every wave of life
Though often crested with the bitter gall
Of fleshly ways and our tumultuous will,
May bear us up to deeper joy with Thee,
The perfect One, beatific in Thy love,
Of every grace and glory full possessed,
In Thee to find our rest mid daily toil.

IV

Life is not easy, nor its burden light.
Lord, thus we learn Thy sympathy and love,
And know the power of Thy encircling arm;
The tenderness and might which bear us up
O'er vale and hill of life's rude, rocky way
Which once was trodden by Thy blessed feet,
That Thou mightest fit Thyself to sympathize
With such as we who have our life in Thee;
And wait to drink its fulness with Thyself,
The suffering now to know, as then the joy
In seeing Thee, O Lord beloved, so fair.

Life then shall be eternal rest and bliss,
As we Thy joy, the Bridegroom's joy, shall know,
While learning more of Thy blest love for us,
Thy bride won for Thyself through toil and death.

V.

Come, blessed Lord, and take us to Thyself!
Our spirits long to see Thy glorious face,
O Lover of our souls, O Saviour, Friend!
Then Thou wilt take these shaking bruised reeds
And make us to Thine image full conformed.
O hour of joy, Thy joy, we Thy delight!
O hour of rest, no mark of sin's alloy!
Thou ALL IN ALL, our Treasure House of bliss!
Thou Tree of life, Fount of perennial springs!
With Thee possessed of pleasures evermore!
Tis then, rapt in the fulness of Thy love,
Our song shall rise in unison with Thine
And fill the New Creation of our God.

John Bloore
"I AM GLORIFIED IN THEM"