A Hymn

“The isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust.” —Isaiah 51:5.
Father, we would plead Thy promise, bending at Thy glorious throne,
That the isles shall wait upon Thee, trusting in Thine arm alone!
One bright isle we bring before Thee, while in faith Thy children pray
For a full and mighty blessing, with united voice today.
Gracious Saviour, look in mercy on this island of the West,
Win the wandering and the weary with Thy pardon and Thy rest;
As the only Friend and Saviour let Thy blessed Name be owned,
Who host shed Thy blood most precious, and forever hast atoned.
Blessed Spirit, lift Thy standard, pour Thy grace, and shed Thy light!
Lift the veil and loose the fetters, come with new and quickening might;
Make the desert places blossom, shower Thy sevenfold gifts abroad;
Make Thy servants wise and stoodfas.t, valiant for the truth of God.
Triune God of grace and glory, be the isle for which we plead,
Shielded, succored with Thy blessing, strong in every hour of need;
Flooded with Thy truth and glory (glowing sunlight from above),
And encompassed with the ocean of Thine everlasting love.
Oh, surround Thy throne of power, with Thine emerald bow of peace:
Bid the wailing, and the warring, and the wild confusion cease.
Thou remainest King for ever―Thou shalt reign, and earth adore!
Thine the kingdom, Thine the power, Thine the glory evermore.

F..H.

Diary of a Soul
By the Editor
AMID all the horrors and confusions of these days, there is a terrible danger for the Christian to be more occupied with his newspaper than with his Bible — to be hurried along by the trend of events from battlefield to battlefield, and so lose to a certain extent the peace of green pastures and still water’s. Our streets are full of soldiers, the air is full of the martial beat of armed men. The shadow that rests upon the world falls in greater or less measure on all our hearts. How many have voiced the aspiration of the Psalmist, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest.”
Yes, we long often to escape the “windy storm and the tempest” that the Psalmist speaks of, for “he has seen,” he says, “violence and strife in the city.” Oh that the sweet wings of the bird (emblem of peace) could bear us away to rest! But the Psalmist deals with present circumstances in Psalms 57:1. He says, “My soul trusteth in Thee; yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” So here we have a sure resting-place in God amid all the troubles and tribulations of the world. The rest of God, underneath the shadow of God. May we know it more and more.
I sat by the bedside of a dear saint of God, over ninety, yesterday. She is waiting for the home call, for the dawning of the morning without clouds. She has been a Christian for more than sixty years, and she tells me she has never had a doubt as to her salvation all that time. She is under the shadow of everlasting wings, and her soul trusts in the living God.