XV. "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"-Ps. xxvii. 1. LEAD, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, The night is dark, and I am far from home, Keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou I loved to see and chose my path; but now I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still O'er moor and hill, o'er crag and torrent, till And with the morn those angel faces smile, That I have loved long since, and lost erewhile. XVI. "I leave the world, and go to the Father."John xvi. 28. It was a brave attempt, adventurous he, I see the surging brine: the tempest raves : Such is the soul, that leaves this mortal land, She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight, The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright. XVII. "O death, where is thy sting?"—1 Cor. xv. 55. WHAT is death But the bright angel of God's Providence, XVIII. “Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." -2 Tim. i. 10. Do TELL me, ye winged winds, Some valley in the west, Where, free from toil and pain, The weary soul may rest? The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low, Sighing for pity, as it answer'd-No! Tell me, thou mighty deep, The bliss for which he sighs, And friendship never dies? The wild waves rolling in perpetual flow, Stopped for awhile, and sighed to answer-No! And thou, serenest moon, Dost look upon the earth, Hast thou not seen some spot Where man, poor wanderer, Might find a happier lot? Behind the cloud the moon withdrew in woe, And a voice sweet, but sad, responded-No! Tell me, my secret soul, O tell me, Hope and Faith, Is there no happy spot Where mortals may be bless'd- And weariness a rest? Faith, Hope and Love, (best boons to mortals given,) Waved their bright wings and whispered-Yes, in Heaven. XIX. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."-John x. 10. "WHAT is the gift of life?" To those subdued, and taught by wisdom's voice, Of what life was, and what it might have been, "What is the gift of life?" To him who reads with heaven-instructed eye, "T is the first dawning of eternity; |