Ah, no! far other plea be mine, As at Thy cross, O Lamb divine, For Thy dear sake, and only Thine, I ask for mercy tremblingly!
My sins are more than I can count, Each day is swelling the amount; All stained with guilt, I seek the Fount Of holiness and purity.
Forgive the debt that I confess,— Wash out my sins, my efforts bless; And clothe me with Thy righteousness, In time and through eternity!
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”—PROV. iii. 5.
“I am so glad that dear mother is coming back to-day!” cried little Mary Benson; “it seemed as if the week would never be over.”
“Yes; if we had not been so busy knitting these cuffs for her, we should have found the time weary indeed,” said Maria. “But how much pleased she will be to have them; and what a surprise it will be to her when she did not even know that we could knit!”
“It was very kind in Mrs. Peters to teach us. I hope that she will not let out her secret: mother was to call at her house on her way back, to leave the parcel of wool.”
“Poor mother! she will be weary enough with her long, tiresome walk.”
“She will forget all when she presses us to her heart,” cried little Mary, her eyes sparkling with pleasure at the thought. “Oh, to think of being in her dear arms again! How we shall rush into them!”
“If mother could have afforded to pay for the coach, she might have been here by this time; but it seems as if she had never one sixpence to spare,” sighed Maria. “I cannot help thinking,” added the little girl, after a pause, turning listlessly over the pages of a book which she was rather looking at than reading—“I cannot help thinking that the Almighty cares less for us than He does for the rich and the great. If He is as tender and loving as we are told that He is, how is it that we want for so many things?”
“Oh, Maria, it is very sinful to think in that way! We must trust in the Lord with all our heart; and not, in our naughty pride, fancy that we know what is good for us better than He who is all wisdom as well as love.”
“I should like to know why there are such differences in the world,” said Maria.
“We must remember what the Saviour said to Peter: _What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter._ In another world we shall see that all God does is right. Do you not recollect what the clergyman told us in his sermon last Sunday—that if there were no differences of station in this life, the rich would not be able to exercise charity, nor the poor to exercise patience?”