Yet, courage!-days and years will glide, Then pure, immortal, sinless, freed, And need no more a hiding-place. HENRY KIRKE WHITE. As withereth the Primrose by the River. S withereth the primrose by the river, A$ As fadeth summer's sun from gliding foun- As vanisheth the light blown bubble ever, Fair praise, vain pomp, sweet glory, brittle joy! The molten snow upon the naked mountains, Are emblems that the treasures we uplay, Soon wither, vanish, fade, and melt away. HENRY KING. Aspirations of the Soul. AH! when did wisdom covet length of days, Or seek its bliss in pleasure, wealth or praise ? A pilgrim, panting for a rest to come; BISHOP HEBER. Around Bethesda's Healing Wave. ROUND Bethesda's healing wave AF Waiting to hear the rustling wing Among them there was one whose eye No power had he; no friendly aid Another won the boon he sought;- Would they have sought his pitying eye, And craved, with fervency of soul, His power divine to make them whole! But habit and tradition swayed Their minds to trust to sense alone; They only hoped the angel's aid; While in their presence stood unknown A greater, mightier far than he, With power from every pain to free. Bethesda's pool has lost its power! Which with its healing waters went, And what that fountain once was found, While their first freshness they retain ; Yet are there who this truth confess, They hear the sounds of life and love, Saviour! thy love is still the same As when that healing word was spoke ; Still in thine all-redeeming name Dwells power to burst the strongest yoke. Oh! be that power, that love displayed! Help those, whom Thou alone canst aid! BERNARD BARTON. THE Abraham. HE better portion didst thou choose, Great Thy God's first choice, and pledge of Gentilegrace! Faith's truest type, he with unruffled face Bore the world's smile, and bade her slaves depart; Whether, a trader, with no trader's art, He buys in Canaan his first resting-place,Or freely yields rich Siddim's ample space,Or braves the rescue and the battle's smart, Yet scorns the heathen gifts of those he saved. O happy in their soul's high solitude, Who commune thus with God and not with earth! Amid the scoffings of the wealth-enslaved, A ready prey, as though in absent mood They calmly move, nor hear the unmannered mirth. ANON. A Voice is on Mine Ear. A VOICE is on mine ear—a solemn voice: I come, I come, it calls me to my rest; Faint not my yearning heart, rejoice, rejoice, Soon shalt thou reach the gardens of the blest: On the bright waters there, the living streams, Soon shalt thou launch in peace thy weary bark, Waked by rude waves no more from gentle dreams, Sadly to feel that earth to thee is darkNot bright as once; oh vain, vain memories, cease, I cast your burden down-I strive for peace. A voice is on mine ear- -a welcome tone: I hear its summons in a stranger land, It calls me hence, to die amid mine own, Where first my forehead, by the wild breeze fanned, |