TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

CHRIST WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM.

And when he was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it. Luke xix. 41. [Gospel for the Day.]

St.

[Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

WHY doth my Saviour weep

At sight of Sion's bowers?

Shows it not fair from yonder steep,
Her gorgeous crown of towers?

Mark well his holy pains:

'Tis not in pride or scorn,

That Israel's King with sorrow stains

His own triumphal morn.

It is not that his soul

Is wandering sadly on,

In thought how soon at death's dark goal
Their course will all be run,

Who now are shouting round

Hosanna to their chief;

No thought like this in Him is found,
This were a Conqueror's grief.*

*Compare Herod. vii. 46. ["When he (Xerxes) saw the Hellespont covered with ships, and the whole shore and plains of Abydos filled with soldiers, he at first congratulated himself, on his good fortune: but soon after, he shed tears."-"When I reflect," says he, "on the shortness of human life, and that, of so many myriads of men, not one will remain one hundred years, I am overwhelmed with grief."-Strange inconsistency in one who was hurrying thousands of them to an untimely death! But such is man.]

Or doth he feel the Cross

Already in his heart,

The pain, the shame, the scorn, the loss?
Feel even his God depart?
No: though he knew full well

The grief that then shall be-
The grief that angels cannot tell-
Our God in agony.

It is not thus he mourns;

Such might be Martyr's tears, When his last lingering look he turns On human hopes and fears;

But hero ne'er or saint

The secret load might know,
With which His spirit waxeth faint;
His is a Saviour's wo.

"If thou hadst known, even thou,
At least in this thy day,
The message of thy peace! but now
"Tis pass'd for aye away:

Now foes shall trench thee round,
And lay thee even with earth
And dash thy children to the ground,
Thy glory and thy mirth."

And doth the Saviour weep
Over his people's sin,

Because we will not let him keep
The souls He died to win?

Ye hearts, that love the Lord,

If at this sight ye burn,

See that in thought, in deed, in word,
Ye hate what made Him mourn.

ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

GEHAZI REPROVED.

Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive yards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men servants, and maid servants? 2 Kings v. 26. [First Morning Lesson, Church of England.]

[O God, who declarest thy Almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

Is this a time to plant and build,

Add house to house, and field to field,
When round our walls the battle lowers,
When mines are hid beneath our towers,
And watchful foes are stealing round
To search and spoil the holy ground?

Is this a time for moonlight dreams
Of love and home by mazy streams,
For Fancy with her shadowy toys,
Aerial hopes and pensive joys,

While souls are wandering far and wide,
And curses swarm on every side?

No-rather steel thy melting heart
To act the martyr's sternest part,
To watch, with firm unshrinking eye,
Thy darling visions as they die,
Till all bright hopes, and hues of day
Have faded into twilight gray.

Yes-let them pass without a sigh,
And if the world seem dull and dry,
If long and sad thy lonely hours,
And winds have rent thy sheltering bowers,
Bethink thee what thou art, and where,
A sinner in a life of care.

The fire of God is soon to fall

(Thou know'st it) on this earthly ball;
Full many a soul, the price of blood,
Mark'd by th' Almighty's hand for good,
To utter death that hour shall sweep-
And will the Saints in Heaven dare weep?

Then in his wrath shall God uproot
The trees He set, for lack of fruit,
And drown in rude tempestuous blaze
The towers His hand had deign'd to raise;
In silence, ere that storm begin,
Count o'er His mercies and thy sin.

Pray only that thine aching heart,
From visions vain content to part,
Strong for love's sake its wo to hide
May cheerful wait the cross beside,
Too happy, if that dreadful day,
Thy life be given thee for a prey.*

Snatch'd sudden from th' avenging rod,
Safe in the bosom of thy GOD,

* Jeremiah xlv. 4,5. "The Lord saith thus: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not, for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest."

How wilt thou then look back, and smile
On thoughts that bitterest seem'd erewhile,
And bless the pangs that made thee see,
This was no world of rest for thee!

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

THE DEAF AND DUMB.

And looking up to heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. St. Mark vii. 34. [Gospel for the Day,]

[Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.]

THE Son of God in doing good

Was fain to look to heaven and sigh:
And shall the heirs of sinful blood
Seek joy unmix'd in charity?
God will not let Love's work impart
Full solace, lest it steal the heart;
Be thou content in tears to sow,
Blessing, like Jesus, in thy wo.

He look'd to heaven, and sadly sigh'd—
What saw my gracious Saviour there,
With fear and anguish to divide

The joy of Heaven-accepted prayer!
So o'er the bed where Lazarus slept
He to his Father groan'd and wept: