Dust to its narrow bed beneath,
Soul to its home on high!

They that have seen thy look in death,
No more may fear to die.

It is not growing, like a tree

In bulk, doth make man better be, Or standing like an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere. A lily of a day

Is fairer far in May;

Although it fall and die that night,

It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see,
And in short measure life may perfect be.

And no murmur at the door,
So frequent on its hinge before.

Close the door, the shutter close,
Or through the windows we shall see
The nakedness and vacancy
Of the dark, deserted house.

Come away: no more of mirth

Is here, or merry-making sound:
The house was builded of the earth,
And shall fall again to ground.

Come away for life and thought
Here no longer dwell;

But in a city glorious—

A great and distant city-have bought
A mansion incorruptible!

Would they could have stayed with us.

THE DEAD.

"She is not dead, but sleepeth,"-
Why in your hearts this strife?
He who hath kept, still keepeth
The never-dying life.

And though that form must moulder

And mix again with earth—
In faith ye may behold her
In glory going forth.

For what to us seems dying

Is but a second birth

A spirit upward flying

From the broken shell of earth.

We are the dead, the buried:
We who do yet survive,
In sin and sense interred-

The dead! They are alive!

Freed from this earthly prison,
They seek another sphere:
They are not dead, but risen !

And God is with them there.

LESSON VI.

SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE.

"Dear mother!" exclaimed Walter one evening, after he had been standing for a minute or two with his eyes fixed on the fire,-" dear, dear mother! how I should like to see God! Do you think I ever shall, mother?”

Mother." My child! we cannot see Him here-not while our souls are joined with these bodies: you cannot see my spirit, you knowonly what it makes my body do; and God is all spirit spirit without body. He is the Great Spirit, the Father of our spirits: we cannot see Him, but we can see what He does."

Walter." But, mother, how can you know about Him, if you cannot see Him ?”

Mother. -"Listen to me, my child, and I will try to explain it to you. You remember one day last autumn, when we were out walking; when we came to the toll-bar, we found the large oaktree torn up by the roots, and lying half across the road?"

Walter.-"Yes, mother; it had broken the palings in falling, I remember."

Mother. "We had passed through the gate the evening before, and then it was standing, and its roots were firm in the ground;-what had thrown it down?"

Walter." It was blown down, mother; don't you remember what a great wind there was? and how the leaves went flying and whirling along the road? and then, when we got home, we found that some of the slates were blown off our own roof?"

Mother." And what a fine sound the wind made in the trees, Walter ;-it seemed to say, 'I am strong! I am strong!' 12 22

Walter.-"Yes, mother; and if we had seen the great tree falling, and heard the crash of the branches as they came down upon the road, I think it would have sounded as if the wind had said, 'I am very strong!'"

Mother." It was very strong. Now, Walter, we cannot see the wind, and yet we know something about it from the things that it does. Can you partly understand now, how we can know something about God, even though we cannot see Him ?"

Walter.-"Yes, mother, I think I can, a little."