'Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.'

'Rivers of water in a dry place,'--hungry and thirsty, my soul fainted
within me. I longed for light, and behold darkness. I longed for help,
and there was none that could come close to my spirit to succour and to
give me drink in the desert. My conscience cried in all its wounds for
cleansing and stanching, and no comforter nor any balm was there. My
heart, weary of limited loves and mortal affections, howsoever sweet and
precious, yearned and bled for one to rest upon all-sufficient and
eternal. I thirsted with a thirst that was more than desire, that was
pain, and was coming to be death, and I heard a voice which said, 'If
any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.'

'The shadow of a great rock in a weary land,'--and my heart was weary by
reason of the greatness of the way, and duties and tasks seemed toils
and burdens, and I was ready to say, 'Wherefore has Thou made me and all
men in vain? Surely all this is vanity and vexation of spirit,' and I
heard One that laid His hand upon me and said, 'Come unto Me, and I will
give thee rest.' I come to Thee, O Christ, faint and perishing,
defenceless and needy, with many a sin and many a fear; to Thee I turn
for Thou hast died for me, and for me thou dost live. Be Thou my shelter
and strong tower. Give me to drink of living water. Let me rest in Thee
while in this weary land, and let Thy sweet love, my Brother and my
Lord, be mine all on earth and the heaven of my heaven!




HOW TO DWELL IN THE FIRE OF GOD