The Marriage Portion. And they the beauty shall behold And with loud joy and singing praise And the lame man shall leap as the hart, And all things have a brighter birth And the ransom'd of the Lord The Marriage Portion. Num. vi. 24-26. J. E. CARPENTER.-Music by M. T. Paradis. LORD and Father of creation! From Thy heavenly throne above, Make Thy face to shine upon them, Deign to bless their plighted love; Give them strength as on they journey, To the bride, beyond her beauty, N 193 So their bridal gifts shall never Like Morning, when her Early Breeze. L T. MOORE.-Air, Beethoven. IKE morning, when her early breeze Thy grace can send its breathings o'er Till David touch'd his sacred lyre, So sleeps the soul, till Thou, O Lord, I Magdalen's Hymn during the Plague. The Dying Christian. Phil. i. 23. J. E. CARPENTER.—Air, German. HAVE a desire to depart, obeying The heavenly call that bids me fly to rest; What is the earth to me, with all its errors? Long have I struggled with its empty show; Magdalen's Hymn during the Plague. THE 'HE air of death breathes through our souls, By day and night the death-bell tolls, And says, "Prepare to die." The face that in the morning sun We thought so wondrous fair, Hath faded, ere his course was run, Beneath its golden hair. 195 I see the old man in his grave The loving ones we loved the best, And the wan moonlight bathes in rest Their monumental stone. But not when the death prayer is said At holy midnight, voices sweet We know who sends the visions bright, From whose dear side they came ! We veil our eyes before the light, This frame of dust, this feeble breath, A deep and awful joy. Dim is the light of vanish'd years In the glory yet to come; Blessed are the Dead. Like children for some bauble fair Blessed are the Dead. Rev. xiv. 13. J. E. CARPENTER.-Music by Türk. TREW his early grave with flowers, STE They the fragile emblems are ; Grieve not-Heaven has called him thither; Father-think he is but sleeping, Though 'tis darkness there to thee; Mother-stand not idly weeping, He'll his Heavenly Father see; Though your hearts with grief are breaking, Death is but to Life awaking: Weep not-Blessed are the dead. 197 |