The Lord Our Support and Stay
By H. Hilliard
I CAN say amidst all the trials and sorrows which in God's mysterious providence I have been called to pass through the past season, that the strong arm of the Lord hath been and still is my support and stay. I feel truly that those who keep the Commandments of God, and have faith in Jesus, are the friends my sorrowing heart seeks after and longs to meet with from time to time. How blessed to feel that the Lord is our shepherd; we shall not want. The enemy of all righteousness is going about seeking whom he may devour, but we are to resist him and he will flee from us. The people of God are truly a tried people; particularly so at this time in this vicinity. As the chaff is separated from the wheat, so are God's people brought out to stand firm for the truth. While I look back on the past two years of my life and realize how slow I have been to embrace the pure truth of God, (some of the time but little more than assenting to it,) I feel truly ashamed that I have not been more active and ready to every good word and work. May I improve time present and future that I may be one of that number who may be able to enter in at the strait gate, and enjoy the rest with the saints of God, is the prayer of an unworthy brother. H. HILLIARD.
St. Law. Co., N. Y., Jan. 24th, 1856.