Oh! yes-despite these bonds that drag him down, Man is a noble creature; not from earth

Its high extraction doth his spirit own,

Defigned from Heaven, which hath from Heaven its birth;

Through all the fhadowing folds of earth we fee
The ftamp of life divine and immortality.

Behold all nature's works-above-abroad-
Yon orb, the spreading skies, and each fair star,
In that bright zone wherewith the hand of God
Hath girdled round the universe afar-
Bright characters they are, inscribed on high,
To teach fin-blinded man that he shall never die.

For why was all this tracery of love

Hung round the earth? thofe ever-during fires,
That fed with light from Paradise above
Woo the rapt spirit to fublime defires?—

What mean they all, if this brief earthly span
Be all that spirit's life, and death the end of man?

There is there is a world beyond the sky!

Thy facred word, O God! reveals to man, Through all the mazes of mortality,

The path to Heaven, and shows a wondrous plan, Whereby the foul, of Faith and Hope poffeft, May reach in peace at length its home of quiet rest.

J. E. P.

LXIII.

HEAVEN.

SHINE in the light of God,
His likeness stamps my brow;
Through the fhadow of death my feet
have trod,

And I reft in glory now.

No breaking heart is here,

No keen and thrilling pain;

No wafted cheek, where the frequent tear
Hath rolled and left its ftain.

I have found the joys of Heaven;
I am one of the fainted band;

Το

my head a crown of gold is given, And a harp is in my hand.

I have learnt the fong they fing,

Whom Jefus hath fet free;

And the glorious walls of Heaven still ring
With my new-born melody.

No fin-no grief-no pain

Safe in my happy home;

My fears all fled, my doubts all flain,
My hour of triumph come.

O Friends of mortal years!

The trufted and the true;

Ye are walking still in the valley of tears,

But I wait to welcome you.

Do I forget? Oh no

For memory's golden chain

Shall bind my heart to the faints below,
Till they meet to touch again.

Each link is ftrong and bright,
And love's electric flame

Flows freely down, like a river of light,
To the world from whence they came.

Do you mourn when another star

Shines out from the glittering sky?

Do you weep when the raging voice of war, And the ftorms of conflict die?

Then why should your tears run down,
And your hearts be forely riven,
For another gem in the Saviour's crown,
And another foul in Heaven?

My Saviour's precious blood,
Has made my title fure;

He paffed through death's dark raging flood,

To make my reft fecure.

The Comforter is come;
The Earneft has been given;

He leads me onward to the home,
Referved for me in Heaven.

Bright angels guard my way,
His Minifters of power;
Encamping round me night and day,
Preferve in danger's hour.

Lov'd ones are gone before,
Whose pilgrim days are done;
I foon fhall greet them on that shore,
Where partings are unknown.

But more than all I long,

His glories to behold;

Whose smile fills all that radiant throng

With ecftafy untold.

That bright, yet tender fmile,

(My sweetest welcome there),

Shall cheer me through the "little while " I tarry for Him here.

Thy love, thou precious Lord,

My joy and ftrength fhall be;

"Till Thou shalt speak the gladdening word That bids me rife to Thee.

And then through endless days,
Where all Thy glories fhine;

In happier, holier ftrains, I'll praise
The grace that made me Thine.