DAY OF REST.

Mataura Ensign, 4 July 1914, Page 6

DAY OF REST.

HE CARETH. What oan it meaji? Is it ought to Him That tho nights are long and the days are dim r . - . ; Can He be touched by the griefs' I bear vgp Which sadd.?h the heart ana whiten the hiurP 1 Aboub , His throne are .eteraftl oalme, Atr! - f r.ing glad music and happy A»d bliss unruffled by any strifeSlew can He ear' lor my'little life? And yet I want Him to care for me , .While I live an this -world where the •sorrows be! When the lights die down from the path/ I take, ■ - When strength is feeble, and friends forsake, .When love and music than once did blosa Have left mo to silence and loneliness, And my life song changes to k silent prayers — Then, my heart cries out for, a God l Who cares. ft Wlfifi shadow hangs over the whole '■{> day long, _ ' 1 - ,And' my spirit is bowed •'with shama a«d wrong, When I aln noti good and tho deeper sh:;do Of • conscious «iii makos my heart afraid, And tho busy w .rld lias too much to do To stay in its tours® to help mo through And I long for a Saviour —can it bo That tho w>d- of the universe cares for mer " . O wonderful story of " deathless love! * Eacfi child is dear to the Heart albove! He fights for mo when I cannot fight, , Ho comforts mo an tho gkom of night, - Ho lifts the burden, for He js strong, He it ills the sigh and' awakesi tho ■song; The sorrow that brought mo down He bear?. And loves and pardons because He carea. Lot all who are sad take heart again, Wo are not alone in our hours of pain; Our Father 6tooped from Hie throne faibovo To soothe and quiet u» with his love; He leaves :Jus not when the «torm is high, '• v . ' \ , And we have safety for.'He is-nigh'. , 'Can- it be trouble which. He doth fliaro? 0 rest in peace, *for the Lord will tare! * Marianne Farningham. . HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. "0 HAUFT VALL BLUT UND iWUNDEN." O Sacred head! soro wounded, With grief and shame weighed down; ■O Kingly head! surrounded ■With' thorns, Thine only crowji; Once rfrigning in tho highest In light and majesty, Heroinockod and scorned, Thou diest, — Andt hero I worship Thee. Thv grief' and bitter Passion Were all for sinners' gain; Mine—mine was the transgression, Ifylt Thine the cruel pain; Lol Tiore I fall, my Saviour, ■ Turn not from me Thy face, But look on m» with favor, Vouchsafe to ma Thy grace. What language can I borrow , "" To praiso Thee, heavenly Friend, For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy love that hath no end? Lord, make me Thine for ever! , 0 may I faithful lx> 1 And let me never —never Outlive my love to Thoa! Bo near when I am dying; 0 show Thy Cross to me; Thy death, my hope supplying, From fear shall set me free. Tlieso eyes, new faith receiving, From Thee shall never move; For ho wbo dies believing Diets eat- '.y in Thy love. Amen. Tr. (1830) from the German of Rot*. Paul < lerlr. rdt by liev. J. W. Alexander. , / In' one particular the seamless robe of ,tho Church of .Tr„i ; > Clirist remains yet

whole, and Unrent by division. All Christians unite in singing tlie great hymns of the "Church, no matter by whom tihey may have been written, "ftanslators have transferred them from country to country. Congregations sing; them heartily, without stopping to enquire whether they came from Greek, Soman or English' branches of the church Catholic, or.: whether l'lefibytetiatt, Lutheraß, Moravia,n. or Methodisti\yrote them-. /And'there lies in the fact, a, germ of hope that the strength of Divine Wisdom will some day intervene to "fashion of our broken lights, the rainbow round His throne,"-that all Christians may "\yitlr one heart and one voioe" glorify Godi One of the great "hymn writers of the Church Catholic was Paul Gephardt, after Luther th f e greatest ■glory in tli.s respect of the German' Lutheran church. Born in Saxony, he was.in 1657, clean of the pavish of ©t. Nicholas ill Berlin. His fame for piety, and as a ; writer of hymns, as welt as !hi6, ability. as a preacher made him tt. shining mark when religious controversy;' disturbed the Lutherans. He found himself in downright opposition, to the Elector Frederick William, who'greatly desired to weld into one tho Lrtitlleraii ana tho other reformed churches. ' This appeared to recognise the claim, that Lutheranism was a new creation, andviiot a roforming of the old church ofyGermany. Gerliardt's opposition cost him' iUs position in Berlin, and at 51 years of ago he was banished altogether from Brandenburg. He became pastor of L ll '*; ben, where in the employment of light parochial duties and in tne composition <jf hymns, of which some 125 are cherished to this day in. Germany he lived out his ilife. , . Trouble and anxiety in various forms attended, him until his death in 167 C, and the manner in which.lie disposed of them, iby weighing them against the .sufferings and merits of the blessed Saviouir, 'is welt 'exemplified 'in the. hymn translated't by : .■ Wesley* into "0 Wounded Head and 'Bleeding'' and by Mr Alexander into "the version here quoted "0 Sacred Head, sore wounded." In its own way this liymn is as precise, and' exquisite a portrayal of the "Ecce Homo" as is CorreggioV great painting of it. Gerhardt'a hymn was written, out of a heart sore with ,bitter controversy and tho battle for life but stayed i*p by the serenity derived from sincere piety. It wag an outcome of living, thankful devotion rather than a, mere portion of the literary output of a remarkable man. j No on a will question the possibility of Gerhardt's hiving at some time jsoen the original'of'the .hymn "0, Sacred Head surrounded if>y circvrn of piercing thorn," iwhßch was translated: from the Latin "for "Hymns Ancient arid Modern" Iby Sir Henry Baker some 50. years, ago.' [Sometimes tlie last vGfse\>f Cer r 'liardt's liyinji is annexed t,o this "one in the 1 hymnibook'R:, quite improperly, for to him' who will consider them, thou£rhtfifl'ly the two are "quit© distinct oompojitipns. , .. . . • This is one" of the ; indispensable Pas-sion-title lmmis of our German kinsfolk, and is used commonly on Good Friday and fit times of spiritual revivals wherever the English language is known.