340

7s. M.

ST. GREGORY.

341

Day and Night.

1 SOURCE of light and life divine!
Thou didst cause the light to shine;
Thou didst bring thy sunbeams forth
O'er thy new-created earth.

2 Shade of night, and morning ray,
Took from thee the name of day:
Now again the shades are nigh
Listen to our mournful cry.

3 May we ne'er, by guilt depressed,
Lose the way to endless rest;
May no thoughts, corrupt and vain,
Draw our souls to earth again.

4 Rather lift them to the skies,

Where our much-loved treasure lies;

Help us in our daily strife,

Make us struggle into life.

C. M.

H. MARTINEAU.

All Men are Equal.

1 ALL men are equal in their birth,
Heirs of the earth and skies;

All men are equal when that earth
Fades from their dying eyes.

2 God meets the throngs who pay their vows
In courts their hands have made;
And hears the worshipper who bows
Beneath the plantain-shade.

3 'Tis man alone who difference sees,
And speaks of high and low,

And worships those, and tramples these,
While the same path they go.

4 O, let man hasten to restore

In

To all their rights of love;

power and wealth exult no more;

In wisdom lowly move.

5 Ye great! renounce your earth-born pride;
Ye low! your shame and fear:

Live, as ye worship, side by side;
Your brotherhood revere.

342

7s. M.

MRS. BARBAuld.

A Christian's Joy.

1 Joy there is, that, seated deep,

Leaves not when we sigh or weep;
Spreads itself in virtuous deeds,

Sighs for wo, in pity bleeds.

2 Stern and awful are its tones
When the patriot-martyr groans,
And the death-pulse beating high
Rapture blends with agony.

3 Tenderer is the form it wears,
Touched with love, dissolved in tears,
When the meek their Saviour greet,
Bending at the mercy-seat.

343

C. M.

A Christian's Death.

1 BEHOLD the western evening light-
It melts in deeper gloom;
So calm the righteous sink away,
Descending to the tomb.

The winds breathe low,

PEABODY.

the yellow leaf

Scarce whispers from the tree;
So gently flows the parting breath
When good men cease to be.

2 How beautiful, on all the hills,
The crimson light is shed!
'Tis like the peace the dying gives
To mourners round his bed.
How mildly on the wandering cloud
The sunset beam is cast!

So sweet the memory left behind,
When loved ones breathe their last.

3 And lo! above the dews of night
The vesper-star appears!

So faith lights up the mourner's heart,
Whose eyes are dim with tears.

344

345

Night falls, but soon the morning light
Its glories shall restore;

And thus the eyes that sleep in death
Shall wake to close no more.

Happy Death of a Christian.

1 DEAR as thou wert, and justly dear,
We would not weep for thee;

One thought shall check the starting tear, –
It is that thou art free.

2 And thus shall faith's consoling power
The tears of love restrain;

O! who that saw thy parting hour
Could wish thee here again!

3 Gently the passing spirit fled,
Sustained by grace divine:

O may such grace on us be shed,
And make our end like thine.

Triumph of Truth and Goodness.

1 THE sage his cup of hemlock quaffed,
And calmly drained the fatal draught:
Such pledge did Grecian justice give
To one who taught them how to live.

2 The Christ, in piety assured,
The anguish of his cross endured:
Such pangs did Jewish bigots try
On him who taught us how to die.

3 Mid prison-walls, the sage could trust
That men would grow more wise and just;
From Calvary's mount, the Christ could see
The dawn of immortality.

4 Who know to live, and know to die,
Their souls are safe, their triumph nigh:
Power may oppress, and priestcraft ban;
Justice and faith are God in man.

346

7s. M.

BEAUMONT.

Enward Peace.

1 As earth's pageant passes by,
Let reflection turn thine eye
Inward, and observe thy breast;
There alone dwells solid rest.

6 That's a close immured tower,
Which can mock all hostile power;
To thyself a tenant be,
And inhabit safe and free.

3 Say not that this house is small,

Girt up in a narrow wall;

In a cleanly, sober mind,

Heaven itself full room doth find.