Faith leads the way, and gathers light, and now Leans upon hope, which strengthens as they go.

What gladness crown'd their steps as now to view
The Heavenly Messenger appeared anew;
And o'er the roof the star descending mild
Showed in a mother's arms the Holy Child!

But yet no ivory here, no glowing gold,
No purple royalties the Babe enfold;
His palace-hall-a stable's solitude,

His regal throne-a manger dark and rude!

Others let Kingly pomp and power adorn,
His is a better Kingship; on this morn
He, on His poor straw pallet meanly laid,
Hath hearts of men with viewless sceptre sway'd.

Lo, at His humble cradle, on bent knee,
They in the Child adore the Deity!

And to that Child us of that Gentile seed,
And to that humble cradle Faith shall lead.

Love is the gold, meet offering for a King, Myrrh to the Son of Man shall abstinence bring;

And prayers shall be the ascending frankincense Which owns our God in veil'd Omnipotence.

Glory to God the Father, Fount of Light,
To Him, who shone upon the Gentiles' night,
And unto Him, well-spring of Charity,
All equal in mysterious Unity!

AT THE VESPERS.

He hath called us not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As He saith also in Osee, I will call them My people which were not My people, and her beloved which was not beloved.-Rom. ix.

"Huc vos, o miseri, surda relinquite."

POOR wanderers, who make your prayer
To gods form'd by your hands,
That speak and hear not-see ye where

A glorious city stands,

And opes to you her walls and golden rest;

Those glorious walls within God is Himself the

guest.

E'en now your chiefs they lead the way,
The volume is displayed,

From prophecy breaks forth the ray :-
They sat beneath death's shade,

But wake, and see afar a wondrous light, Which from those walls breaks forth upon the rear of night.

Long have they been asunder thrown,
Like sunshine and the shade;

But now-the wall is broke and gone,

And they are equal made;

Oh Thou, whose counsels in dark waters dwell,
And footsteps are in deeps by man untraceable!

Judah, who on her mountain throne

Had built on high her nest,

Hath from her lofty seat come down

To welcome her new Guest.

And see the Alien's glory late made wise,
To live by her decay, from her abasement rise.

Drooping and dropping as she hung

Over her stock o'erthrown,

I

She sees new shoots around her sprung,

And branches not her own!

Ah me, take heed, thou faith-engrafted shoot,
Lest thou be sever'd from the Life-supporting Root!

Glory to Thee, the Living Three,

The Everlasting Son,

And Thee, who gavest us to be

Made in that Body one,

And Spirit, spreading life through every limb,

Oh! graft again the lost-the grafted keep in Him.

UNTIL THE OCTAVE OF THE EPIPHANY.

AT MIDNIGHT.

Men of stature shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine, they shall come after thee, they shall fall down unto thee; they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.-ISAIAH xlv.

"Quà lapsu tacito stella loquacibus."

THE star before doth stilly glide
With gently-speaking rays,

The seers pursue the wondrous guide
With earnest feet and gaze;

And now the heav'n-led wanderers come
To towering Salem's mountain home,

And there have lost the friendly star,

As in his darkling mid career

The star deserts the mariner

On nightly seas afar.