Would worship, in the tranquil night,
The Prince of Peace-the Source of Light,— Where man for God prepared the place, And God to man unveils His face.
Her tribute all around is seen;
She bends, and worships like a queen! Her robe of light and beaming crown In silence she is casting down; And, as a creature of the earth, She feels her lowliness of birth— Her weakness and inconstancy Before unchanging purity.
Pale traveller, on thy lonely way 'Tis well thy homage thus to pay ; To reverence that ancient pile, And spread thy silver o'er the aisle Which many a pious foot has trod That now is dust beneath the sod; Where many a sacred tear was wept From eyes that long in death have slept!
The temple's builders—where are they? The worshippers? all pass'd away, Who came the first, to offer there The song of praise, the heart of prayer! Man's generation passes soon; It wanes and changes like the moon. He raises up the lowering wall, But, ere it crumbles, he must fall!
And does he sink to rise no more? Has he no part to triumph o'er
The Christian's Progress.
The pallid king? no spark to save From darkness, ashes, and the grave? Thou, holy place, the answer, wrought In thy firm structure, bars the thought! The Spirit that establish'd thee
Nor death nor darkness e'er shall see!
The Christian's Progress.
H. KIRKE WHITE.
HROUGH sorrow's path, and danger's road,
Amid the deepening gloom,
We, soldiers of an injured King,
Are marching to the tomb.
There, when the turmoil is no more, And all our powers decay, Our cold remains in solitude Shall sleep the years away.
Our labours done, securely laid In this our last retreat, Unheeded, o'er our silent dust
The storms of life shall beat.
Yet not thus lifeless, thus inane, The vital spark shall lie,
For o'er life's wreck that spark shall rise To see its kindred sky.
These ashes, too, this little dust, Our Father's care shall keep, Till the last angel rise, and break The long and dreary sleep.
There love's soft dew o'er every eye Shall shed its mildest rays,
And the long-silent dust shall burst With shouts of endless praise.
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