DIVINE GOODNESS, UNSELFISHNESS LOVE'S FULFILLING O Love is weak Which counts the answers and the gains, Weighs all the losses and the pains, And eagerly each fond word drains A joy to seek. When Love is strong It never tarries to take heed, Or know if its return exceed Its gifts; in its sweet haste no greed, No strifes belong. It hardly asks If it be loved at all; to take So barren seems, when it can make Such bliss, for the beloved's sake, Of bitter tasks. Its ecstacy Could find hard death so beauteous, It sees through tears how Christ loved us, And speaks, in saying "I love thus," No blasphemy. So much we miss If love is weak, so much we gain If love is strong, God thinks no pain Too sharp or lasting to ordain To teach us this. --Helen Hunt Jackson. LOVE If suddenly upon the street My gracious Saviour I should meet, And he should say, "As I love thee, What love hast thou to offer me?" Then what could this poor heart of mine Dare offer to that heart divine? His eye would pierce my outward show, His thought my inmost thought would know; And if I said, "I love thee, Lord," He would not heed my spoken word, Because my daily life would tell If verily I loved him well. If on the day or in the place Wherein he met me face to face My life could show some kindness done, Some purpose formed, some work begun, For his dear sake, then, it were meet Love's gift to lay at Jesus' feet. --Charles Francis Richardson. THE COMMON OFFERING It is not the deed we do-- Tho' the deed be never so fair-- But the _love_ that the dear Lord looketh for Hidden with holy care In the heart of the deed so fair. The love is the priceless thing, The treasure our treasure must hold Or ever our Lord will take the gift, Or tell the worth of the gold By the love that cannot be told. Behold us--the rich and the poor-- Dear Lord, in thy service draw near; One consecrateth a precious coin, One droppeth only a tear; Look, Master, the love is here! --Harriet McEwen Kimball. True love shall trust, but selfish love must die, For trust is peace, and self is full of pain; Arise and heal thy brother's grief; his tears Shall wash thy love, and it will live again. --John Boyle O'Reilly. EXPECTING AND KNOWING Faith, Hope and Love were questioned what they thought Of future glory which religion taught; Now Faith _believed_ it to be firmly true, And Hope _expected_ so to find it too; Love answered, smiling with unconscious glow, "Believe? expect? I _know_ it to be so." --John Wesley. THE LOVE OF GOD