The trees of each darkling and deep tangled grove, O! he knits them in light like fond brothers in love; He plays with the sea, like a sire with his child, Who reflects himself there in a glass undefiled; He laughs with the streams, through each pebbly nook,
And gladdens the dimples of each running brook : The birds-O! he warmeth their hearts with his ray, And they melt into joy at the glory of day; Then they trill a full note as they flutter along, Giving back his bright beams in the sunshine of song;
And myriads of happy ephemera seem
To triumph new born in the strength of his beam; And the bud in its darkness, the seed in the sod, The bulb in its cerement, the worm in its clod, Feel motion of vital existence begun,
In the glory and power of the uprising SUN.
O thus will the SUN OF OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS rise, To brighten our hearts and to gladden our eyes; Before him the baubles of earth pass away, Eclipsed by the blaze of his full beaming ray; And the spirit entranced by a rapture that burns, Like a bride to her spouse, in pure loveliness turns; And the sorrow and gloom, and the darkness and blight
Of the heart is all lost in the joy of his light: He melteth the mists of false doubts from the air, Arousing the low gentle breathings of prayer; He calls into blossom the loneliest weed, Vitality gives to the deep buried seed;
The faculties mount, like young birds newly free, To their pure Gospel law of sweet liberty;
And as on the air of redemption they wing, Trill songs of high praise to their Saviour and King. The MIND-that vast ocean of grandeur and pride, Reflecteth his beam in its unebbing tide;
And multiplies truth in its bright scintillations, To lands far apart and to wondering nations; From depths never fathom'd, from caverns pro- found,
It comes full of joy with his smile to be crown'd;* And our gross earthy nature so barren and rude, Feels warmth from His beam in its deep solitude: The Conscience made quick like a worm in its clod, Writhes and turns to the deep searching presence of God;
And the DAY of our unending life is begun, In the light of the FATHER, the SPIRIT, and SON, Those THREE rays of glory united in ONE.t W. MARTIN.
"Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world."- 1 JOHN V. 4.
BORN OF GOD, a new creation
Bursts upon the spirit's sight! In our earthy habitation
Darkness changes into light:
"There is a perpetual upward current in the sea, by which the waters are brought from their deepest places to the surface, that they may receive the action of light."-DAVY.
"The union of the three primitive colours and their com
pounds, form a ray of white light."-BREWSTER.
Eden smiles again before us, Now no more by sin defiled, Christ within us shall restore us To our FATHER reconciled.
Earth, a chaos, is departing,
Like the passing of a shade: Death of heart to life is starting, .In the glory he has made: Crucified each earthly feeling, Buried passion, sin, and shame, We awake in Faith, revealing Resurrection in his name.
What is now this world of error? What are all our turmoils here? Tribulations strike no terror,
Dangers cannot make us fear: Onward through the light'nings flashing, Onward where the thunders fly, Through the strife and through the crashing We pass on to victory.
By the COMFORTER united
With the holy and the good,
Chosen, seal'd, redeem'd, and plighted,
By the water and the blood:
Day by day we joy inherit,
Hour by hour in praises blend;
And transfigured by his Spirit, From the shades of earth ascend,
To that heaven of perfect gladness Which the rays of grace impart, Hope dispelling grief and sadness, By its sunshine in the heart.
Foretaste of the bliss supernal Of our heavenly dwelling place, Where in glory the ETERNAL Meets his children face to face.
PRAYER FOR THE SPIRIT.
GOD of our hope, whose changeless love Like light and warmth is shed below, Send down thy Spirit from above To cheer us in our earthly woe.
From sin's deep, darksome, deathlike sleep, Awaken, Lord, in love thine own; That, stirr'd by Thee, our souls may leap In joy to worship at thy throne.
Assist us, Lord, to cast away
The gross thick darkness of the mind, And brighten with thy glorious ray The groping bosoms of the blind.
Arm us with light, that we may wage War with all sin and darkness here, That throughout our brief pilgrimage We know no gloom and feel no fear.
Come to our hearts, and save us, Lord; Reveal Thyself in mercy; give
Us health and hope;-oh, speak the word, "Let there be light," and bid us live.
"Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and CHRIST shall give thee light."-EPHES. V. 14.
WE'LL seek thy face at early dawn,* When clouds and darkness veil the sky, Upon the rising mists of morn
Confess our errors in a sigh,
And the first beam that shines above Shall glow with thy forgiving love. Then will the clouds that linger oft, About the region of the breast, Like those that faint in light aloft, Flee far away and give us rest, While every darksome grief shall be Dispell'd by glory, shed by thee.
When dove-wing'd zephyrs wake the flowers, O! let our hearts with gladness leap, And thy good spirit rouse the powers Of soul and sense from deathful sleep; That the first breath of morning air May waft the incense sigh of prayer. When bees sing chorus in the light, Of infant day in joy begun,
And sparkling dew drops clear and bright Mirror the full uprising sun,
Then let us, Lord of light, arise,
To pay our early sacrifice.
The people, saith St. Basil, rising at the dawn of day, went to the house of prayer, and there, in great agony of soul, made confession of their sins to God, and then rising from their prayers proceeded to the singing of hymns.-Ep. ad Clerum Neocasariens, Ep. 63, tom. II.
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