When Bethlehem's shepherds through the night Watch'd o'er their flocks by starry light: Hark! from the midnight hills around, A voice of more than mortal sound, Wild murmuring o'er the raptured soul. Then, swift to every startled eye New streams of glory light the sky; On wheels of light, on wings of flame, High heaven with songs of triumph rung, "O Zion! lift thy raptured eye, The long-expected hour is nigh; The joys of Nature rise again, The Prince of Salem comes to reign. See, Mercy from her golden urn Pours a rich stream to them that mourn; The bleeding bosom of despair! He comes to cheer the trembling heart, Again the Day-star gilds the gloom, O Zion! lift thy raptured eye, The Prince of Salem comes to reign." SPEED THE PROW. Montgomery. Nor the ship that swiftest saileth, Storm and calm, to win the day; O'er life's ocean, wide and pathless, Time there was, 'tis so no longer,- Battled with the waves, and stronger There my bark had founder'd surely, Breathed upon me ;-then securely, Helm, and shrouds, and heart renew'd, I my Now, though evening shadows blacken, And no star comes through the gloom, On I move, nor will I slacken Sail, though verging tow'rds the tomb : Bright beyond, on heaven's high strand, Lo, the lighthouse !-land, land, land! Cloud and sunshine, wind and weather, Life and death will soon be past; But where day's last spark declines, REASON AND RELIGION. Bryden. DIM as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars When day's bright lord ascends our hemisphere; HUMAN FRAILTY. WEAK and irresolute is man ; The purpose of to-day, Woven with pain into his plan, The bow well bent, and smart the spring, But Passion rudely snaps the string, And it revives again. Some foe to his upright intent Virtue engages his assent, But Pleasure wins his heart. Tis here the folly of the wise Through all his heart we view; And, while his tongue the charge denies, Bound on a voyage of awful length And dangers little known, A stranger to superior strength, Man vainly trusts his own. But oars alone can ne'er prevail, To reach the distant coast; The breath of heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost. 9 |