So too may soothing Hope thy leave enjoy
Sweet visions of long sever'd hearts to frame;
Though absence may impair, or cares annoy,
Some constant mind may draw us still the same.
We in dark dreams are tossing to and fro,

Pine with regret, or sicken with despair,
The while she bathes us in her own chaste glow,
And with our memory wings her own fond prayer

(

O bliss of child-like, innocence, and love

Tried to old age! creative power to win,

And raise new worlds, where happy fancies rove,
Forgetting quite this grosser world of sin.

Bright are their dreams, because their thoughts are clear,
Their memory cheering: but the earth-stained spright,
Whose wakeful musings are of guilt and fear,
Must hover nearer earth, and less in light.

Farewell, for her, th' ideal scenes so fair—

Yet not farewell her hope, since Thou hast deign'd, Creator of all hearts! to own and share

The wo of what Thou mad'st, and we have stain'd.

Thou know'st our bitterness-our joys are thine*—
No stranger Thou to all our wanderings wild:

Nor could we bear to think, how every line

Of us, thy darken'd likeness and defil'd,

Stands in full sunshine of thy piercing eye,
But that thou call'st us Brethren: sweet repose
Is in that word-the Lord who dwells on high
Knows all, yet loves us better than He knows.

* Psalm xxxi. 7. Thou hast known my soul in adversities.

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER

TRINITY.

THE TWO RAINBOWS.

The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs xvi. 31. [First Evening Lesson, Church of England.]

[Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

THE bright hair'd morn is glowing

O'er emerald meadows gay,

With

many a clear

gem strowing

The early shepherd's way,
Ye gentle elves, by Fancy seen
Stealing away with night
To slumber in your leafy screen,
Tread more than airy light.

And see what joyous greeting

The sun through heaven has shed,
Though fast yon shower be fleeting,
His beams have faster sped.
For lo! above the western haze
High towers the rainbow arch
In solid span of purest rays:
How stately is its march!

Pride of the dewy morning!
The swain's experienc'd eye
From thee takes timely warning,*
Nor trusts the gorgeous sky.

For well he knows, such dawnings gay
Bring noons of storm and shower,
And travellers linger on the way
Beside the sheltering bower.

Even so, in hope and trembling
Should watchful shepherd view
His little lambs assembling,

With glance both kind and true;
'Tis not the eye of keenest blaze,
Nor the quick-swelling breast
That soonest thrills at touch of praise—
These do not please him best.

But voices low and gentle,

And timid glances shy,
That seem for aid parental
To sue all wistfully,

Still pressing, longing to be right,
Yet fearing to be wrong-
In these the Pastor dares delight,
A lamb-like, Christ-like throng,

These in Life's distant even
Shall shine serenely bright,
As in th' autumnal heaven

Mild rainbow tints at night,
When the last shower is stealing down,
And ere they sink to rest,

The sun-beams weave a parting crown

For some sweet woodland nest.

* [The rainbow in the morning
Is the sailor's warning,

Old proverb.]

The promise of the morrow
Is glorious on that eve,*
Dear as the holy sorrow

When good men cease to live.
When brightening ere it die away
Mounts up their altar flame,
Still tending with intenser ray
To Heaven whence first it came.

Say not it dies, that glory,

'Tis caught unquench'd on high,
Those saint-like brows so hoary
Shall wear it in the sky.

No smile is like the smile of death,
When all good musings past
Rise wafted with the parting breath,
The sweetest thought the last.

SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE ADVENT.

SELF-EXAMINATION BEFORE ADVENT.

Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. St. John vi. 12. [Gospel for the Day.]

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

WILL God indeed with fragments bear,
Snatch'd late from the decaying year?

Or can the Saviour's blood endear

The dregs of a polluted life?

*

[The rainbow at night Is the sailor's delight.

Old proverb.]

When down th' o'erwhelming current tost,
Just ere he sink for ever lost,

'The sailor's untried arms are cross'd

In agonizing prayer, will Ocean cease her strife?
Sighs that exhaust but not relieve,
Heart-rending sighs, O spare to heave
A bosom freshly taught to grieve

For lavish'd hours and love misspent!
Now through her round of holy thought
The Church our annual steps has brought,
But we no holy fire have caught-

Back on the gaudy world our wilful eyes were bent.
Too soon th' ennobling carols, pour'd
To hymn the birth-night of the LORD,*
Which duteous memory should have stor❜d
For thankful echoing all the year—

Too soon those airs have pass'd away;
Nor long within the heart would stay
The silence of CHRIST's dying day,t
Profan'd by worldly mirth, or scar'd by worldly fear.

Some strain of hope and victory

On Easter wings might lift us high;
A little while we sought the sky:

And when the SPIRIT's beacon firest

On every hill began to blaze,

Lightening the world with glad amaze,
Who but must kindle while they gaze?

But faster than she soars, our earth-bound Fancy tires.

Nor yet for these, nor all the rites,
By which our Mother's voice invites
Our GoD to bless our home delights,
And sweeten every secret tear:-

*[Christmas.]

+ [Good Friday.]

‡ [Whitsunday.]