To hear thee that deep mystery, The veil is rais'd; who runs may read, Bows down t'adore the Nazarene. So did Nathanael, guileless man, In his own pleasant fig-tree's shade, Oh! happy hours of heaven-ward thought! We must not mar with earthly praise What God's approving word hath seal'd; Enough, if right our feeble lays Take up the promise He reveal'd; "The child-like faith, that asks not sight, "Waits not for wonder or for sign, 66 Believes, because it loves, aright— "Shall see things greater, things divine. "Heaven to that gaze shall open wide, ""Twixt God above, and Christ below." So still the guileless man is blest, To him all crooked paths are straight, Him on his way to endless rest Fresh, ever-growing strengths await a. God's witnesses, a glorious host, Psalm xxxiv. 7. They go from strength to strength. Yet shall to him the still small voice, That first into his bosom found A way, and fix'd his wavering choice, Nearest and dearest ever sound. ST. MATTHEW. And after these things He went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed Him. St. Luke v. 27, 28. YE hermits blest, ye holy maids, Who talk with God in shadowy glades, To whom some viewless teacher brings The moral of each fleeting cloud and gale, Say, when in pity ye have gaz’d On the wreath'd smoke afar, That o'er some town, like mist uprais'd, Hung hiding sun and star, Then as ye turn'd your weary eye To the green earth and open sky, Were ye not fain to doubt how Faith could dwell Amid that dreary glare, in this world's citadel ? But Love's a flower that will not die And Christian Hope can cheer the eye Then be ye sure that Love can bless Even in this crowded loneliness, Where ever-moving myriads seem to say, Go-thou art nought to us, nor we to thee-away! There are in this loud stunning tide Of human care and crime, Of th' everlasting chime; Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, How sweet to them, in such brief rest As thronging cares afford, In thought to wander, fancy-blest, To where their gracious Lord, |