Imatges de pàgina
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She pleads by all thy mercies, told
Thy chosen witnesses of old,

Love's heralds sent to man forgiven,

One from the Cross, and one from heaven.*

This, of true Penitents the chief,

To the lost spirit brings relief,
Lifting on high the adored name:—
"Sinners to save, Christ Jesus came.'t
That, dearest of thy bosom Friends,
Into the wavering heart descends:-
"What! fall'n again? yet cheerful rise,‡
Thine Intercessor never dies."

The eye of Faith, that waxes bright
Each moment by thine altar's light,
Sees them, e'en now: they still abide
In mystery kneeling at our side;
And with them every spirit blest,
From realms of triumph or of rest.
From Him who saw creation's morn,
Of all thine angels eldest born,

To the poor babe, who died to-day,
Take part in our thanksgiving lay,§
Watching the tearful joy and calm,
While sinners taste thine heavenly balm.

*St. Paul and St. John.

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all men to be received, That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

§ [The Communion of Saints. There is an admirable sermon on this subject, by the Rev. Charles Forster, the Chaplain, companion and bosom friend of the late inestimable Bishop of Limerick, Dr. Jebb, to whose memory it is dedicated. It was printed, but not published.]

Sweet awful hour! the only sound
One gentle footstep gliding round,
Offering by turns on Jesus' part
The Cross to every hand and heart.

Refresh us, Lord, to hold it fast;
And when thy veil is drawn at last,
Let us depart where shadows cease,
With words of blessing and of peace.

HOLY BAPTISM.*

WHERE is it, mothers learn their love?—
In every Church a fountain springs
O'er which th' eternal Dove
Hovers on softest wings.

What sparkles in that lucid flood
Is water, by gross mortals eyed:
But seen by Faith, 'tis blood
Out of a dear Friend's side.

A few calm words of faith and prayer,
A few bright drops of holy dew,
Shall work a wonder there

Earth's charmers never knew.

* [There is a soothing sacred beauty in these lines, peculiar and indescribable. The strain they breathe comes sweetly and softly on the soul, like a sleeping infant's breath. We are mistaken if they do not make all Christian mothers in love with Keble's poetry.]

O happy arms, where cradled lies,
And ready for the Lord's embrace,
That precious sacrifice,

The darling of his grace!

Blest eyes, that see the smiling gleam
Upon the slumbering features glow,
When the life-giving stream
Touches the tender brow!

Or when the holy cross is sign'd,
And the young soldier duly sworn
With true and fearless mind
To serve the Virgin-born.

But happiest ye, who seal'd and blest
Back to your arms your treasure take,
With Jesus' mark impress'd

To nurse for Jesus' sake:

To whom-as if in hallow'd air

Ye knelt before some awful shrine-
His innocent gestures wear

A meaning half divine:

By whom Love's daily touch is seen
In strengthening form and freshening hue,
In the fix'd brow serene,

The deep yet eager view.

Who taught thy pure and even breath
To come and go with such sweet grace?
Whence thy reposing Faith,

Though in our frail embrace?

O tender gem, and full of heaven!
Not in the twilight stars on high,
Not in moist flowers at even
See we our God so nigh.

Sweet one, make haste and know Him too,
Thine own adopting Father love,

That like thine earliest dew
Thy dying sweets may prove.

CATECHISM.*

OH say not, dream not, heavenly notes
To childish ears are vain,

That the young mind at random floats,
And cannot reach the strain.

Dim or unheard, the words may fall,
And yet the heaven-taught mind
May learn the sacred air, and all
The harmony unwind.†

Was not our Lord a little child,‡
Taught by degrees to pray,
By father dear and mother mild
Instructed day by day?

* [From the Font our poet passes to the Catechism. We would that he might take all Christian parents and sponsors with him.] + [The common but groundless objection, that children cannot understand the Catechism, is beautifully and effectually answered in these lines. It applies with equal force to the several branches of human learning. In grammar, in mathematics, in philosophy, the child learns much that he does not fully comprehend. But it is stored in his memory, and as his intellectual powers are developed, he understands its meaning. So it must be with the Scriptures, as well as with the Catechism.]

["And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them; and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." Luke ii. 51, 52.]

*

And lov'd He not of heaven to talk
With children in His sight,

To meet them in his daily walk,
And to his arms invite?

What though around His throne of fire
The everlasting chant

Be wafted from the seraph choir
In glory jubilant?

Yet stoops He, ever pleas'd to mark
Our rude essays of love,
Faint as the pipe of wakening lark,
Heard by some twilight grove:

Yet is He near us, to survey

These bright and order'd files,
Like spring-flowers in their best array,
All silence and all smiles.

Save that each little voice in turn

Some glorious truth proclaims,-
What sages would have died to learn,
Now taught by cottage dames.*
And if some tones be false or low,
What are all prayers beneath
But cries of babes, that cannot know
Half the deep thought they breathe?

In his own words we Christ adore,
But angels, as we speak,

Higher above our meaning soar

Than we o'er children weak:

[Truths are made familiar to children in the Sunday school which Plato and Cicero longed to ascertain. Yea,

"Prophets and kings desired to know,
And died without the sight."

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