THOUGHTS THROUGH THE

YEAR

THE YEAR

Sonnets suggested by the Collects

Prayers are but the body of the bir Desires are its angels' wings."

LONDON.

PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO.

CITY ROAD.

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which Thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when He shall come again in His glorious majesty to judge both the quick and dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through Him who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost now and ever. Amen.

ARKNESS above the earth broods heavily,

DARK

Since the short day died sadly in the West, But o'er that other heaven within the breast

How often doth a deeper darkness lie,
Anxious and gloomy as of moonless sky

O'erswept by winds of care which cannot rest,
When, losing sight of God, we tremble lest
We walk alone and lonely till we die.
Soul, art thou thus benighted ?—then beware
Lest thy feet slip, and so the enemy,

Mocking thy grief, entice thee to despair;

Trim well thy lamp, and it shall guide thee right,

Although bereft of gladness, till the light

Break in the East, and the Lord comfort thee.