Page:Her Benny - Silas K Hocking (Warne, 1890).djvu/256

 ? Was religion as much a matter of love as of duty?" He heard nothing of the lesson that was read; bat when the congregation stood up to sing again he was all attention. Slowly the words rang out, and filled the little sanctuary—

"Give me the faith which can remove And sink the mountain to a plain; Give me the child-like praying love Which longs to build Thy house again; Thy love, let it my heart overpower, And all my simple soul devour.

"Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart With boundless charity divine! So shall I all my strength exert, And love them with a zeal like Thine, And lead them to Thy open side. The sheep for whom the Shepherd died."

That hymn for the rest of the day became the burden of his prayer, and for many days after, though when the answer came, or how, Benny never knew. That it did come he had no doubt, for he discovered that religion was no longer the cold formal thing he had once imagined it to be, but a warm living something that filled his whole life. Duty now became a joy, because love inspired it. Loving God, he loved His service and loved His people; and at last he understood the words of the Master, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work."

I do not know that any one saw any change in Benny's life, except perhaps the superintendent of the school. He taught from henceforth as if his whole heart and soul were in the work; duty was no longer irksome, but a delight, and