Thou from primeval nothingness didst call, First CHAOS, then Existence. Lord, on Thee Eternity has its foundation; all

Sprang forth from Thee: of Light, Joy, Harmony, Sole origin-all life, all beauty, Thine.

Thy word created all, and doth create;

Thy splendour fills all space with rays divine; Thou art, and wert, and shalt be glorious! great! Life-giving, life-sustaining Potentate!

Thy chains the measured universe surround, Upheld by Thee; by Thee inspired with breath! Thou the beginning with the end hast bound, And beautifully mingled Life and Death!

As sparks mount upward with the fiery blaze,
So suns are born, so worlds spring forth from Thee;
And as the spangles in the sunny rays

Shine round the silver snow, the pageantry
Of Heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise.

A million torches, lighted by Thy hand, Wander unwearied through the blue abyss; They own Thy power, accomplish Thy command, All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss ;

What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light? A glorious company of golden streams?

Lamps of celestial ether burning bright? Suns lighting systems with their joyous beams? But Thou to these are as the moon to night.

Yes! as a drop of water in the Sea,

All this magnificence on Thee is lost ;

What are a thousand worlds compared to Thee? And what am I, when heaven's unnumbered host, Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed In all the glory of sublimest thought,

Is but an atom in the balance, weighed Against Thy greatness-is a cypher brought Against Infinity? What am I, then? Nought.

Nought: but the effluence of the light divine, Pervading words, hath reached my bosom too; Yes, in my spirit doth Thy Spirit shine, As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew.

Nought: but I live, and on Hope's pinions fly, Eager, towards Thy presence; for in Thee

I live, and breathe, and dwell; aspiring high, Even to the throne of Thy Divinity!

I am, O God; and surely Thou MUST be!

Thou art; directing, guiding all, Thou art! Direct my understanding, then, to Thee; Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart; Though but an atom 'midst immensity,

Still I am something, fashioned by Thy hand, I hold a middle rank 'twixt Heaven and Earth, On the vast verge of mortal being stand, Close to the realm where angels have their birth, Just on the boundary of the spirit-land!

The chain of being is complete in me; In me is matter's last gradation lost,

And the next step in Spirit-Deity!

I can command the lightning, and am dust!
A monarch and a slave: a worm, a God;
Whence came I here, and how ? so marvellously
Constructed and conceived, unknown? This clod
Lives surely through some higher energy ;
From out itself alone it could not be.

Creator! Yes! Thy Wisdom and Thy Word Created me, Thou source of life and good! Thou Spirit of my spirit, and my Lord! Thy Light, Thy Love, in their bright plenitude, Filled me with an immortal soul, to spring Over the abyss of death, and bade it wear The garments of Eternal Day, and wing Its heavenly flight beyond this little sphere, Even to its source, to Thee, its Author, Thee!

O thought ineffable! O vision blest! (Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee) Yet shall Thy shadowed image fill our breast, And waft its homage to the Deity.

God! thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar; Thus seek Thy presence. Being wise and good! 'Midst Thy vast works admire, obey, adore; And when the tongue is eloquent no more, The Soul shall speak in tears of gratitude!

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH

PROGRESSIVE.

"The Lord hath more Truth yet to break forth out of his Holy

Word."

PASTOR ROBINSON to the Pilgrim Fathers.

WE limit not the truth of God

To our poor reach of mind,
By notions of our day and sect,
Crude, partial, and confined:
No: let a new and better hope
Within our souls be stirred:
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from his Word.

Who dares to bind to his dull sense
The oracles of heaven,

For all the nations, tongue, and climes,
And all the ages given?

That universe how much unknown!
That ocean unexplored!

The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from his Word.

Darkling our great forefathers went
The first steps of the way:
'Twas but the dawning, yet to grow
Into the perfect day.

And grow it shall—our glorious sun

More fervid rays afford:

The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from his Word.

The valleys past, ascending still,
Our souls would higher climb,
And look down from supernal heights,
On all the by-gone time.
Upwards we press, the air is clear,
And the sphere-music heard:
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from his Word.

O Father, Son, and Spirit, send
Its increase from above;
Enlarge, expand, all Christian souls,
To comprehend thy love :

And make us to go on to know,

With nobler powers conferred,

The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from his Word.

REPENTANCE.
Byrom.

LET thy Repentance be without delay;
If thou defer it till another day,

Thou must repent for a day more of sin,
While a day less remains to do it in.
To be religious, something it will cost;
Some riches, honour, pleasure must be lost,
But if thou countest the sum total o'er,
Not to be so will cost a great deal more.