Count each affliction, whether light or grave, God's messenger sent down to thee. Do thou With courtesy receive him, rise and bow, And, ere his shadow pass thy threshold, crave Permission first his heavenly feet to lave, Then lay before him all thou hast. Allow No cloud of passion to usurp thy brow Or mar thy hospitality; no wave Of mortal tumult to obliterate Thy soul's marmoreal calmness. Grief should be, Like joy, majestic, equable, sedate; Confirming, cleansing, raising, making free; Strong to consume small troubles, to commend Great thoughts, grave thoughts, thoughts lasting to the end. --Aubrey Thomas De Vere. SONG--SERMON Lord, what is man, That thou art mindful of him? Though in creation's van, Lord, what is man? He wills less than he can, Lets his ideal scoff him! Lord, what is man, That thou art mindful of him? --George Macdonald. Lord, shall we grumble when thy flames do scourge us? Our sins breathe fire; thy fire returns to purge us. Lord, what an alchemist art thou, whose skill Transmutes to perfect good from perfect ill! --Francis Quarles. The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown; No traveler e'er reached that blest abode Who found not thorns and briers in his road. --William Cowper. TAKE AWAY PAIN The cry of man's anguish went up unto God: "Lord, take away pain-- The shadow that darkens the world thou hast made, The close-coiling chain That strangles the heart, the burden that weighs On the wings that would soar-- Lord, take away pain from the world thou hast made, That it love thee the more!" Then answered the Lord to the cry of his world: "Shall I take away pain And with it the power of the soul to endure, Made strong by the strain? Shall I take away pity, that knits heart to heart, And sacrifice high? Will ye lose all your heroes that lift from the fire White brows to the sky? Shall I take away love, that redeems with a price And smiles at its loss? Can ye spare from your lives, that would climb unto mine, The Christ on his cross?" 'Tis not alone in the sunshine Our lives grow pure and true; There is growth as well in the shadow, And pain has a work to do. So it comes to me more and more As I enter upon each new day: The love of the Father eternal Is over us all the way. "In pastures green"? Not always; sometimes he Who knoweth best in kindness leadeth me In weary ways where heavy shadows be. But where He leads me I can safely go, And in the blest hereafter I shall know Why in his wisdom he hath led me so. A SONG OF SOLACE