THE MARRIAGE VOW.

PEAK it not lightly-'tis a holy thing,
A bond existing through long distant

years,

When joy o'er thine abode is hovering, Or when thine eye is wet with bitterest tears, Recorded by an angel's pen on high,

And must be questioned in eternity.

Speak it not lightly!-though the young and gay Are thronging round thee now with tones of mirth, Let not the holy promise of to-day

Fade like the clouds that with the morn have

birth;

But ever bright and sacred may it be,

Stored in the treasure-cell of memory.

Life will not prove all sunshine ;-there will come Dark hours for all. Oh, will ye, when the night Of sorrow gathers thickly round your home,

Love, as ye did in times when calm and bright Seemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care, And deemed the future, like the present, fair?

Eyes that now beam with health may yet grow dim, And cheeks of rose forget their early glow; Languor and pain assail each active limb,

And lay, perchance, some worshipped beauty low; Then will ye gaze upon the altered brow, And love as fondly, faithfully, as now?

The Marriage Vow.

33

Should Fortune frown on your defenceless head, Should storms o'ertake your bark on life's dark sea,

Fierce tempests rend the sail so gaily spread

When Hope her siren strain sang joyously, Will ye look up, though clouds your sky o'ercast, And say, TOGETHER we will bide the blast?

Age with its silvery locks comes stealing on,

And brings the tottering step, the furrowed cheek, The eye from which each lustrous gleam hath gone, And the pale lip, with accents low and weak; Will ye then think upon your life's gay prime, And, smiling, bid Love triumph over time?

Speak it not lightly!-oh, beware! beware!

'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word; Lo! men and angels list the faith ye swear,

And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard ;Oh, then kneel humbly at His altar now,

And pray for strength to keep the Marriage Vow.

D

THE THOUGHT OF LIGHT.

NAMELESS man, amid the crowd
That thronged the daily mart,
Let fall a word of light and love
Unstudied from the heart.

The thought upon the tumult thrown,
The transitory breath,

Has raised a brother from the dust,
And saved a soul from death.

O thought of light! O breath of love!
Even though at random cast!
How little wert thou at the first-

How mighty at the last!

I'm going Home.

35

THOU HAST BEEN MY REFUGE.

|H, strange infirmity, to think
That He will leave my soul to sink
In darkness and distress,

Who has appeared in times of old,
Who saved me when the billows rolled,
And cheered me with His grace.

What sweeter pledge could God bestow
Of help in future scenes of woe,
Than grace already given?
But unbelief, that hateful thing,

Oft makes me sigh, when I should sing

Of confidence in Heaven.

I'M GOING HOME.

I'M going home !-prepare thy bridal wreath,

My Saviour bids my happy spirit

come:

Damp not with tears the Christian's bed of death, Rejoice! I'm going home.

Earth has its cares: for threescore years and ten My lot has been through thorny paths to roam. I would not tread those desert plains again ;

Rejoice! I'm going home.

The dove hath found her rest, the storm-tossed found
A place of refuge from the dashing foam
Of grief's wild billows; thither am I bound.

Joy! joy! I'm going home!

Earth's flowers all fade-there fadeless beauties

bloom;

Earth's sunniest light is shaded by the tomb Earth's loves all slumber in the vault below;

b;

Death dwells not in that home.

I see the city of the blest on high,

With the freed spirit's ken. I come-I come! Ye calling voices! catch my heart's reply:

Home-home! I'm going home!

THE END OF AFFLICTION.

HE gloom of the night adds a charm to the morn,

Stern winter the spring-time endears; And the darker the cloud on which it is drawn,

The brighter the rainbow appears.

So trials and sorrows the Christian prepare
For the rest that remaineth above;
On earth tribulation awaits him, but there
The smile of unchangeable love.