She pleads by all thy mercies, told 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, The eye of Faith, that waxes bright To the poor babe, who died to-day, *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 Refresh us, Lord, to hold it fast; HOLY BAPTISM.* WHERE is it, mothers learn their love?— What sparkles in that lucid flood A few calm words of faith and prayer, 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, The darling of his grace! Blest eyes, that see the smiling gleam Or when the holy cross is sign'd, But happiest ye, who seal'd and blest To nurse for Jesus' sake: To whom-as if in hallow'd air Ye knelt before some awful shrine- A meaning half divine: By whom Love's daily touch is seen The deep yet eager view. Who taught thy pure and even breath Though in our frail embrace? O tender gem, and full of heaven! Sweet one, make haste and know Him too, That like thine earliest dew CATECHISM.* OH say not, dream not, heavenly notes That the young mind at random floats, Dim or unheard, the words may fall, Was not our Lord a little child,‡ * [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 To meet them in his daily walk, What though around His throne of fire Be wafted from the seraph choir Yet stoops He, ever pleas'd to mark Yet is He near us, to survey These bright and order'd files, Save that each little voice in turn Some glorious truth proclaims,- In his own words we Christ adore, 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, |