صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Thou whisperest some pleasant word,
I catch the much-loved tone;
I feel Thee near, my gracious Lord!
I know Thou keepest watch and ward,
And all my grief is gone.

From every mountain's rugged peak,
The far-off land I know;

And from its fields of fadeless bloom,
Come breezes laden with perfume,
And fan my weary brow.

There peaceful hills and holy vales
Sleep in eternal day;

While rivers, deep and silent, glide
"Twixt meads and groves on either side,
Through which the blessed stray.

There He abides, who is of Heaven,
The loveliest and the best;
His face, when shall I gaze upon !
Or share with the beloved John

The pillow of His breast!

[ocr errors]

The Heavenly Temple.

FIND a beautiful description of the heavenly state in the statement of St. John, that he saw no temple there. It tells me there is no keeping of the earthly Sabbath,

for all its days alike are holiness to the Lord; and telling me this, it also tells me that if once admitted within the gates of pearl, and privileged to tread the streets of gold, I shall be free from remainder of corruption; I shall no longer need external ordinances to remind me of my allegiance, and strengthen me for conflict; but that, made equal to the angels, I shall love God without wavering, and serve God without weariness. Therefore, however a human pencil, striving to delineate the heavenly Jerusalem, might have intermingled sanctuaries and palaces; and crowned the city with that diadem of towers which tells of dwelling-places, reared for Him whom the universe cannot contain; there is more, far more, to me in the total want of sacred architecture,

1

than in the rich profusion of dome and steeple with which man would have crested the heavenly metropolis. And though poetry, if bidden to pour its melodies on the home of the saints, might have drawn its imagery from what is most celestial on earth, and have spoken of the courts of the Lord's house, and the tabernacles crowned with the mystic insignia of a present Deity-nothing could have been so eloquent to me of the deep tranquillities and purities of heaven, and nothing could have so told me of one uniform, cloudless, blessed Sabbath, as the simple announcement of St. John, "And I saw no temple there."

MELVILLE.

[ocr errors]

The Departed One.

PEAK to us; thou art laid

So calmly out to slumber, we might deem Thee smiling in some bright and happy dream:

[ocr errors][merged small]

With youth and joyance on thy radiant brow?
Fair spirit, thou art blest and happy now.

The earth was bright to thee;

Thou look'dst upon its sunshine and its flowers,
And gather'dst gladness for the weary hours:
Life's mystery

Of joy and sorrow it was thine to know;
What heart that speaketh not of bliss and woe!

A woman's soul was thine,

And woman's nature on thy brow was seal'd;
And depths within thy spirit e'er revealed,
As a pure shrine,

The countless treasures of affection's might,

And changeless truth, unscathed by earthly blight.

Still shedding a soft spell

O'er the sweet sanctuary of hearth and home,
As a rich sunbeam on the ocean foam,
So didst thou dwell,

Amid thy cherished—a fair form of light,
Beloved and loving as an angel bright.

Thou restest now: the rush,

The strife of being, are forever past;
And, calmly sheltered from the fearful blast,
Thy joyous gush

Of holy rapture and adoring love
Ascendeth still to Him who reigns above.

Farewell, farewell! thy voice

From earth hath parted, and its music deep Hath mingled with the lays that melt and steep In rapturous joys

"Seraphic legions." Be it ours to dwell

E'er with thee on that shore.-Farewell, farewell.

« السابقةمتابعة »