Page images
PDF
EPUB

Why crowd ye cities forth? some reed to find,
Some vain reed trembling to the careless wind?
Or throng ye here to view with doting eye,
Some chieftain stand in purple pageantry?

Some dwell in kingly domes-no silken form
Woos the stern wind and braves the mountain storm.
What rush ye there to seek? some Prophet-seer?
One mightier than the Prophets find ye here—
The loftiest bard that waked the sacred lyre,
To him in rapture poured his lips of fire;
Attuned to him the voice of Sion fell-
Thy name, Elias, closed the mystic shell.

C. H. Johnson.

In Judah's rugged wilderness,
Where Jordan rolls his flood,
In manners strict, and rude of dress,
The holy Baptist stood.

And while upon the river's side,
The people thronged to hear,
"Repent," the sacred preacher cried,
"The heavenly kingdom's near."

Now Jesus to the stream descends;
His feet the waters lave;

And o'er his head, that humbly bends,
The Baptist pours the wave.

When, lo! a heavenly form appears,
Descending as a dove;

And wondrous sounds the assembly hears,
Proclaiming from above.-

"This is my well-beloved Son,

On him my spirit rests;

Now is his reign of grace begun,
Attend his high behests."

The sacred voice has reached our ear,
And still through distant lands

Shall sound, till all His name revere,
And honour His commands.

T. Fletcher.

BEAUTIFUL.

ONE thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.--Psalm xxvii. 4.

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.--Psalm xxxix. 11.

Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.--Proverbs, xxxi. 30.

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time.--Ecclesiastes, iii. 10, 11.

Он, what is Beauty's power?

It flourishes and dies;

Will the cold earth its silence break,
To tell how soft, how smooth a cheek
Beneath its surface lies?

Mute, mute is all,
O'er Beauty's fall;

Her praise resounds no more, when mantled in her pall. The most beloved on earth

Not long survives to-day;

So music past is obsolete,

And yet 'twas sweet, 't was passing sweet,

But now 't is gone away.

Thus does the shade

In evening fade,

When in forsaken tomb the form beloved is laid.

At Thy rebuke, the bloom
Of man's vain beauty flies;
And grief shall, like a moth,
All that delights our eyes.

H. K. White.

consume

J. Montgomery.

A sinful soul possessed of many gifts,
A spacious garden full of flowering weeds,
A glorious devil, large in heart and brain,
That did love beauty only, (beauty seen
In all varieties of mould and mind,)
And knowledge for its beauty; or if good,
Good only for its beauty.

Tennyson.

The beautiful, the beautiful!
Where do we find it not?
It is an all-pervading grace,
And lighteth every spot.

It sparkles on the ocean-wave—
It glitters in the dew;
We see it in the glorious sky,
And in the flow'ret's hue.

On mountain-top, in valley deep,
We find its presence there;
The beautiful, the beautiful!
It liveth every where.

The glories of the noontide-day
The still and solemn night,
The changing seasons, all can bring
Their tribute of delight.

There's beauty in the dancing beam
That brightens childhood's eye,
And in the Christian's parting glance,
Whose hope is fix'd on high.

And in the being whom our love
Hath chosen for its own,

How beautiful! how beautiful!

Is every

look and tone.

'Twas in that glance that God threw o'er The young created earth,

When He pronounced it "very good,"

The beautiful had birth.

Then who shall say this world is dull,
And all to sadness given,

While yet there lives on every side
The smile that came from heaven?

If so much loveliness is sent

To grace our earthly home, How beautiful-how beautiful Will be the world to come!

Anon.

BELIEF-UNBELIEF.

If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.--Isaiah, vii. 9. Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.--Mark, ix. 24.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. --John, xiv. 1.

For what, if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid.--Romans, iii. 3, 4.

God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.--II. Thessalonians, ii. 13.

SUCH my belief. Oh, that thou would'st thy bold,
Infatuated, withering doubt discard!

The flower would be more sweet, the moon more fresh,
The sun more bright, the sky more blue, the night
(The natural season for deep thought) less dark:
Life's cares, and wan disease, would blessings be,
And death (annihilation's herald now)

The harbinger of everlasting bliss.

Dare then be wise, Dash down the subtle web,
Thy pride of intellect hath round thee wove,
Despised into the dust; believe in God;
Obey His will;-and then thy rescued soul
Shall, on angelic pinions, wing its way
To heaven's bright realms of pure beatitude.
T. L. Merritt

Believe and fear not! In the blackest cloud
A sunbeam hides; and from the deepest pang
Some hidden mercy may a God declare!

R. Montgomery.

Since fools alone all things believe
In cloister hatch'd, or college,
Some, by believing nothing, think
They're at the height of knowledge.
And yet to have no faith demands
More faith than is supposed,

For sceptics have their creed,—of things
Incredibly composed.

Some truths above our reason, we

Reject not, but receive:

Against all reason, infidels

Unnumber'd lies believe.

C. C. Colton.

BELLS.

AND beneath upon the hem of it, thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about.

And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not --Exodus, xxviii. 33, 35.

In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord.--Zechariah, xiv. 20.

WHAT a deep murmur on the night-air swells,
What a clear tone draws irresistably
The goblet from my mouth. Ye hollow bells,
Proclaim ye Easter's dawn is drawing nigh?
The word of hope in that sweet music ringing,
That once, when o'er his sepulchre did close
The shades of night, from angel lips arose,
Assurance of a covenant renew'd to mortals bringing.

[blocks in formation]

What in your mighty sweetness, do you seek,
Ye tones of Heaven, with me that dwell in dust?
Seek elsewhere mortals flexible and weak.

I hear the message, but I cannot trust;
Faith's chosen child is the miraculous.

I dare not strive those distant spheres to gain, From whence these holy tidings came to us; And yet it seems that long-remembered strain, In youth, recalls me back to life again. The kiss of heavenly love upon me fell, In the deep stillness of the sabbath calm, The heartfelt fullness of the sabbath bell, A prayer to my glad soul sufficient balm, Beyond conception sweet; a holy longing Drove me to wander forth through wood and mead; And in the thousand tear-drops warmly thronging, I felt a world grow up, mine own indeed. The joyous sports of youth those tones revealing, Of the spring feast once more the joy unfolds, And recollection, fraught with childish feeling,

Me from the last dread step of all withholds. Oh sound, sound on, thou sweet celestial strain, The tears well forth, the earth hath me again. Goethe's "Faust."

« PreviousContinue »