THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER

EASTER.

Lessons Deut. iv. I-41, v.

Epistle James i. 17-22. Gospel St. John xvi. 5—16.

THE COLLECT.

O ALMIGHTY God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men; Grant unto Thy people, that they may love the thing which Thou commandest, and desire that which Thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” – James i. 18.

Be blessings on the little child,

Which trusts because it loves alone
The Saviour, who on it has smiled
And by that smile its heart has won.

Be blessings on the generous youth,

Who has not learn'd the blush of shame,
But craves to climb from truth to truth,
And thinks that all men crave the same.

Be blessings upon those who bear
The heat and burden of the day,

And through this world of sin and care
Unfaltering track a heavenward way.

Be blessings on the cloudless brow
Of age unstain'd by storm and strife,
Which calmly waits the summons now
To pass into the light of life.

And are these gleams of heaven on earth,
We love through mists of tears to trace,
But symbols of the Spirit's birth?

But firstfruits of the Spirit's grace?
What will it be when those, who weep
But weeping seek the things above,
In God's eternal kingdom reap

The harvest of these seeds of love?
A saint in light, no cloud to mar
The perfect image of his Lord,
Resplendent as the morning star ;
Is this the sum of faith's reward?
One saint albeit a saint in light,

One star in heaven's great firmament,
Ah, this were little in His sight

Who will His Bride in bliss present;
His Bride, His diadem of saints,
Never a jewel wanting there,
Whose spotless beauty language faints
With earthly glories to compare ;
His Bride, of every age and clime;
His Bride, of numbers numberless;
The blossom and the flower of time,
The crown of love and loveliness.
And is there aught reveal'd beyond
This vision of supreme delight?
Can faith with shaded eyes respond
To words which touch the infinite?

And will the Bride herself appear
The firstfruits of Eternal Love?
Is there no bound, no limit here
To growth of bliss below, above?

So runs the living Oracle,

"His will begat the Church to be Creation's firstfruits." Who can tell The harvests of eternity?

O God, it is enough, if we

Will rest upon Thy word alone; And, taking what is known of Thee,

Will trust Thee for the vast unknown.

THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

Lessons: Deut. vi., ix., x.

Epistle James i. 22. Gospel : St. John xvi. 23.

THE COLLECT.

O LORD, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us Thy humble servants, that by Thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by Thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."James i. 27.

"Ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but Me ye have not always."St. Mark xiv. 7.

"I go: the poor, My poor are with you still,
And ye may help them when and as ye will."

Such was the legacy Incarnate Love
Bequeath'd His own before He soar'd above.

Not gold or jewels, but His poor to claim
Our succour for the sake of His dear name.

No weary burden, but a rich bequest,
Whereby who blesses is himself twice bless'd.

Is it not ours to-day? Are not the poor,
The hungry and the naked, at our door?
And do not still the moans of anguish rise,
By day and night from sufferers to the skies?

And does not many a sorer, deeper need
Than poverty or pain for mercy plead ?

The wounded soul, the broken heart's distress ;
Tears of the widow and the fatherless?

And He, who gave Himself for all, has given
To us His servants of the balm of heaven.

Kind thoughts and tender words and generous tasks,

These for His sorrowing ones the Master asks.

None are so poor but have some love to shower
On poorer than themselves, and this is power.
This is the worship pure and undefiled

The Father claims of every heaven-born child.