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O happy are the souls that stay
In such harmonious course alway,
And like the patient stars are found
Walking each day their quiet round.

Deem not when on the heavens ye gaze,
And see the midnight all ablaze,

That we 'midst those bright strangers are
An idle solitary star.

Each soul, the living and the dead,
The very earth whereon we tread,
Is bound by mightiest, holiest ties,
With all creation's destinies.

The Christ of God, who dwells on high,
In splendour of the Deity,

Did take, O Earth, from dust of Thine,
That sacred Form, that Flesh Divine.

For this thou ever shalt remain
Link'd into life's eternal chain;
The fine-cleansed altar where the curse
Was taken from the universe:

The Temple, from whose quires shall ring
Those harps the lost ones used to string;
Whose silent notes have marr'd so long
The music of the angel's song.

T. WHYTEHEAD.

FIFTH DAY OF CREATION.

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly, the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth.

O'ER the void and formless earth,

In darkness lay the deep,
When came the eternal spirit forth,
And stirr'd its silent sleep:

He moved amid the unshapen gloom,

And through the mighty waters' womb
The thrill of life did creep.

Yet no sign of change it gave,

Till God the bidding spoke;

Then straight within the heaving wave
The hidden power awoke :

And ocean teemed with living things,
And heaven was swept with myriad wings,

That from the waters broke.

From that mystic deep arisen,

Up, Christian spirit fly,

As rose from out their watery prison
The creatures of the sky :

On this his rising-day prepare

To meet thy Saviour in the air,
And seek thy home on high.

He unto heaven is gone;

And shouldst thou here below
Round old delights be lingering on
Thou canst not yet forego:

O child of an immortal birth,
Inheritor of more than earth,

Thy better portion know.

Here awhile contented be
In quietness to glide,

Like the mute creatures of the sea,

On through the opposing tide:

Move upward still, though dark and strong
The world's dark waters foam along

The torrent of their pride.

Through the stream 'twixt earth and heaven

Thy steady course be bent,

While day by day shall strength be given

To stem its swift descent:

And think that still, with wings of love,
The Eternal Spirit broods above

The troublous element.

T. WHYTEHEAD.

SIXTH DAY OF CREATION.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

LAST of creation's days,

Last of the day's of woe,

Which He, to whom be endless praise,

Endured for us below:

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=2mless earth,

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