I sit me down beside the hazel grove,

And sigh, and half could wish my weariness were death,

Like a bright veering cloud

Gray blossoms twinkle there,

Warbles around a busy crowd

Of larks in purest air.

Shame on the heart that dreams of blessings gone,
Or wakes the spectral forms of wo and crime,
When nature sings of joy and hope alone,
Reading her cheerful lesson in her own sweet time.
Nor let the proud heart say,
In her self-torturing hour,

The travail pangs must have their way,
The aching brow must lower.

To us long since the glorious Child is born,
Our throes should be forgot, or only seem
Like a sad vision told for joy at morn,

For joy that we have wak'd and found it but a dream.
Mysterious to all thought

A mother's prime of bliss,
When to her eager lips is brought
Her infant's thrilling kiss.

O never shall it set, the sacred light

Which dawns that moment on her tender gaze, In the eternal distance blending bright

Her darling's hope and hers, for love and joy and praise.

No need for her to weep

Like Thracian wives of yore,
Save when in rapture still and deep

Her thankful heart runs o'er.

They mourn'd to trust their treasure on the main,
Sure of the storm, unknowing of their guide:

Welcome to her the peril and the pain,

For well she knows the home where they may safely

She joys that one is born

Into a world forgiven,

Her Father's household to adorn,

And dwell with her in heaven.

So have I seen, in spring's bewitching hour, When the glad earth is offering all her best, Some gentle maid bend o'er a cherish'd flower, And wish it worthier on a Parent's heart to rest.

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

THE DOVE ON THE CROSS.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send him unto you. St. John xvi. 7. [Gospel for the Day.]

[O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men; grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

MY Saviour, can it ever be

That I should gain by losing Thee?
The watchful mother tarries nigh

Though sleep have clos'd her infant's eye,
For should he wake, and find her gone,
She knows she could not bear his moan.
But I am weaker than a child,

And Thou art more than mother dear;
Without Thee Heaven were but a wild:
How can I live without Thee here!

"'Tis good for you, that I should go,
You lingering yet awhile below;"
'Tis thine own gracious promise, Lord!
Thy saints have prov'd the faithful word,

When Heaven's bright boundless avenue
Far open'd on their eager view,

And homeward to thy Father's throne,
Still lessening, brightening on their sight,
Thy shadowy car went soaring on;

'They track'd Thee up th' abyss of light.

Thou bid'st rejoice; they dare not mourn,
But to their home in gladness turn,
Their home and God's, that favour'd place,
Where still he shines on Abraham's race,
In prayers and blessings there to wait
Like suppliants at their monarch's gate,
Who bent with bounty rare to aid

The splendours of his crowning day,
Keeps back awhile his largess, made
More welcome for that brief delay:

In doubt they wait, but not unblest;
They doubt not of their Master's rest,
Nor of the gracious will of Heaven-
Who gave his Son, sure all has given *-
But in ecstatic awe they muse

What course the genial stream may choose,
And far and wide their fancies rove,

And to their height of wonder strain,
What secret miracle of love

Should make their Saviour's going gain.

The days of hope and prayer are past,
The day of comfort dawns at last,

The everlasting gates again

Roll back, and lo! a royal train—

*["He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Romans viii. 32.]

From the far depth of light once more
The floods of glory earthward pour:
They part like shower-drops in mid air,
But ne'er so soft fell noon-tide shower,
Nor evening rainbow gleam'd so fair

To weary swains in parched bower.

Swiftly and straight each tongue of flame*
Through cloud and breeze unwavering came,
And darted to its place of rest

On some meek brow, of Jesus blest.
Nor fades it yet, that living gleam,
And still those lambent lightnings stream;
"Where'er the Lord is, there are they;

In every heart that gives them room,
They light His altar every day,

Zeal to inflame, and vice consume.

Soft as the plumes of Jesus' Dove
They nurse the soul to heavenly love:
The struggling spark of good within,
Just smother'd in the strife of sin,
They quicken to a timely glow,
The pure flame spreading high and low.
Said I, that prayer and hope were o'er?
Nay, blessed Spirit! but by Thee
The Church's prayer finds wings to soar,
The Church's hope finds eyes to see.

Then, fainting soul, arise and sing;
Mount, but be sober on the wing;
Mount up, for Heaven is won by prayer,
Be sober, for thou art not there;
Till Death the weary spirit free,

Thy God hath said, "Tis good for thee

["There appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." Acts i. 3.]

To walk by faith and not by sight:

Take it on trust a little while;

Soon shalt thou read the mystery right
In the full sunshine of His smile.
Or if thou yet more knowledge crave,
Ask thine own heart, that willing slave
To all that works thee wo or harm:
Should'st thou not need some mighty charm
To win thee to thy Saviour's side,
Though he had deign'd with thee to bide?
The spirit must stir the darkling deep,

The Dove must settle on the Cross,

Else we should all sin on or sleep

With Christ in sight, turning our gain to loss.

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

ROGATION SUNDAY.*

And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. Deut. ix. 20.

[O Lord, from whom all good things do come; grant to us, thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.]

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NOW is there solemn pause in earth and heaven;
The Conqueror now

His bonds hath riven,

[Rogation Sunday is that which next precedes Ascension Day. The three intervening days, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, are called Rogation days, from a Latin word signifying to beseech, because for those days extraordinary prayers were provided, especially for a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and for exemption from war and pestilence. They retain their place in the calendar of the Church of England.]